Bleach Compilation
by Accursius
Summary: Bleach related ideas/chapters/concepts which I hope I will be able to include into a story of mine someday, but already wanted to post them in the meantime. Please review and tell me your thoughts and opinions!
1. Chaos of the Ancient World

**Beneath Ashes, among Chaos**

 **Earth, Africa, more than 5000 years ago:**

A youth was seated atop the not all that old golden tipped landing pad. The god-king´s servants supervising the flesh clad souls on each side of the river beneath him paid him no mind, for neither cared for the others actions. His chin resting on the folded fingers of his hands his bored gaze taking in the world before him. Eastward his sight is hooked by a mountain so large it did not fit the curve of the land, sometimes two at a time, its top glimmering like freshly fallen snow, the sun´s always angry glare breaking on the myriad roofed palaces on top of the clouds. The damages, torn into them by the golden King of Apes who rebelled against the world above after the flood, already healing.

He knows, even further east he would see the Eastern Ancient Serpents water besieged yet dry mirror-like crystal cave beneath the height of the waves. The god-king there, wondering when he had left. Outside the borders of physical reasoning he saw the island born from the dust being swept away by the Heavenly Demon´s storms, fertile and peaceful unlike its parent lands yet already poisoned by each other like all products of Ape hands. Growing out of the island and to the north all was shadowed, a trunk so wide eyes could not see where its border. Branches reaching outwards to the easts, wests, norths, and souths, all the way to the sun and all other celestial attendants, some carrying glimmer just like the mountain top, others nothing at all.

And all was planted by Ape hands.

Behind the tree stands its thought-father. Unseen yet misunderstood by Worms, Apes and Monkeys, soul enriching storm streams ever twisting due to its pulse which seeds souls upon the globe of dirt and picks them up again after expiration date.

The Heavenly Demon sitting in the skies snickering at the Apes thoughtlessness on being hindered from trying to built a Tower by the Worms. A Tower in mirror shape to her own, which is piercing the outer realms above us. It serves as her perch ever since she had brought the soul enriching winds with her, and began trading insults with the Worms around her.

But all was already changing again, chaos having no need for stasis. The Floods, having threatening to swallow all land, released upon the shattering of Atzlan, had already receded when the former Age had ended and the current one had still been lying in wait. New realms had sprung up like wheat, hosts of the unliving had fallen and had been raised, in the end nothing had changed to change.

Still not wanting to meet the sun´s always angry glare, he turned around on his seat and watched the plains of the west. There a fiery mountain chased away the hungry hordes which had crawled out of the dark grounds of self pity hidden in the Void Streams with its always angry glare. This was new, even newer than the always angry glare of the sun.

He thus leaps from his own perch, shrinking space under his strides and convinces the dragon necks to carry him onwards only setting food on the planets curst again when he nothing but ashes are reflected in his eyes. At the foot of the fiery mountain stands no Ape nor one such as himself, still half-clad in his burned away meat suit, dragging the giant corpses remaining of yesterdays battle onto the pyre he fought a burning mountain. All around them he witnessed hungry maws fleeing from the flames light and whenever darkness swallowed one of them a burning corpse was thrown after it, for if possible the burned youth would leave no darkness behind but only blissful shade. It was not to be however, for the Houses had already blown the war trumpets and made up their minds, today would be another battle, as always in this age of ever changing twilight. For the corpses were useful twice, as from the dark they also called out the hungry, who were the equivalent of myriad singular souls in the great House-forges.

* * *

...

A futile endeavour truly, nonetheless refreshing, for a victory against the inevitable brings about such feelings, short-lived they may be. There they stand side by side, of different nature yet united by their futile task, starring into death-mountain devoured by flames which were torn from the sun herself and thus earning the whole world her ire against the thief.

"What would be your word o´calling, Child of Man?"

That call word was grating on him, and all of his kin, rude as it was even if true. The other was all too aware of that. Of his displeasure as well, after all while using the tones of spirits no falsehoods nor emotions could be masked. Not with their weak skills and great ego at least.

"Virtue of the Surging-Will´s House, and yours? Then I would finally be able to call you something beside Ape."

"... None actually, I never got around getting myself a new name upon reaching age, and my child name is nothing I would like to be called by."

"Khahahahahahahaha! Indeed! Such is the bane of all parent´s children! I understand you are from one of those Ape-tribes which change their name after deeds of great valor?"

"No, I don´t know of any such tribes, however your assumption of our custom is correct."

"Then how about I give you a new calling? For I do not wish to call one such as yourself neither as boy nor Ape."

"Do as you will. But be prepared to make your bed atop the fallen should this turn out to be another one of your so not funny jokes."

"I´ll keep that in mind, Monkey. Here we stand in the shadow and ashes of the corpse mountain you piled up, ichor and flames decorate it like the volcanoes of your home planet, and I need not seal my eyes to spew out a prophecy how it will not be your last. Thus you shall be called Mountain-Maker from Origin of Mountains (Yamamoto). Happy? Or shall I start hiding behind the pillars of my House while quivering?"

"Passable."

"Khahaha! Now then that we decided not to kill each other over the calling of a single being, fare well and let us convene again on a field of crimson blossoms and thorns such as this, Mountain-Maker."

* * *

 **This should represent the spiritual chaos across Earth before the Soul Society was formed. It creates a reason why Earth would have more spiritual activity than other planets, as some kind of alien, the Heavenly Demon migrated to Earth and the fallout of his spirit enriched the souls of all those living on Earth. Like Ichigo to his friends, just planet wide.**

 **Furthermore its purpose was to enable me to write a nearly unlimited number of crossovers by creating a coherent world system where this is possible as I do not want to resort to the "multiverse solution", thus there are references to aliens, mythological pantheons, or other original fictions: TES, Fate Stay Night, Stargate, Feng Shen Ji. This was achieved by giving the living beings the power to make mythopeia reality, aka realise the mythology they believe in. Gods born from belief. The comments of Yhwach regarding the Soul King make me believe that the SK was somehow created by precursors or very old Shinigami to quell a sort of chaos. Yamamoto as the oldest Shinigami known to us is already in here, even if 5000 years is probably far longer than he is in canon considering that 2000 years ago he was already past his prime it is not even that unlikely. My thought was that the creators of the Soul Society somehow collected all that spiritual fallout across the planet and then hit the Soul King into that newly made realm like a nail to keep it fixed. The Dangai was then created as a bridge but also as a means to keep Earth and the Soul Society at a fixed distance.**

 **As for the World Tree, which probably everyone noticed, and its father: the world tree is something that turns up in fiction and myth quite often, but I wanted something more metaphysical and universal for this. Thus I used human belief to misinterpret the "father" into a World Tree. The "father" in turn is the reimyaku/ley lines/dragon veins etc and also the circle of reincarnation itself. Think of it as a large stream coming out of the crust of the Earth, or the Jureichi?, and then separating into countless branches creating the image of a giant tree. Yamata no Orochi, dragons (in Asia often river/water spirits) also are encompassed within this system: Tree = many reimyaku etc as river of souls, each river a dragon.**

 **And last but not least: golden Gilgamesh as King of Humanity who rebelled against Heaven = golden Son Goku as Monkey King (for what are Humans to gods but monkeys) who rebelled against Heaven**

 **With this cosmological set up any kind of crossover should be possible without resorting to needing to let the characters cross dimensions/realities etc. The need for a multiverse which for some reason has hardly any differences should thus be eliminated.**


	2. Soul Society Arc Conclusion Part 1

**Conclusion of the Soul Society Arc**

 **Part 1**

 _It´s rotating, the world is rotating, every time the sun and the moon touch each other, constantly changing its appearance to something new. If there is something that doesn´t change, it´s my impotence._

 _If they say that destiny is made of gears, then are we the reason for turning it?_

 _Or are we just the sand in between, which is crushed wiyout mercy?_

 _Believing it doesn´t connect, we go forth, beyond the power of the matching gears._

 _Believing that it is complete we move forward, to where the powers that interlock lead._

 _There´s nothing to do when being powerless. I just want power._

 _Even yough I can see them, no matter how much I train my body, I can´t protect them, there´s nothing that can be done. When I think of that, my heart becomes like a blade._

 _If I cannot protect by just reaching out with my hand, then I want a blade so I can reach in front of them. The power to crush destiny._

 _..._

 _The moon, ... looks like a blade that is swung down._

* * *

 **Present, summer of 2001: The depths of the Research and Development Institute, beneath the "enter and die" room:**

The process had succeeded, yough while his liquefied body indeed had made good progress across free ground, the goo´s aspect of solid merging, which allowed him to bleed through the walls, took longer than anticipated.

At least there had been no problems with his ability to control the green goo, that makes up his body at the moment, movements. However trace amounts of his liquefied body had become forgotten and remained, for some time, in objects. This caused his consciousness to stretch dangerously thin, splitting his mental capabilities between the fragments. Bringing them all together again, was an interesting experience, which he would have to thank the Quincy brat for. Some alterations will have to be taken.

Perhaps he could also add some ...

The yought was noted and then put aside in favour of more immediate concerns. He was digressing. And in doing so, he had prolonged his regeneration even further.

The small chamber, which he recuperated in, was of pristine white stone, a short stairway leading up to the single entrance, a one person doorway to the adjacent room, filled with organic apparati and computers overseeing his growth process.

On his orders, Nemu had began to flood the room with a greenish-golden liquid, an extract from the spirit pulse streaming throughout the physical plane and being the main cause for the existence of spiritrons there, as well as the main ingredient of the main alcoholic beverage the denizen of the Court of Pure Souls enjoyed. However, it was also the stream of broken up soul pieces, carried from the spiritual plane to the physical. Transporting those that had died in the Soul Society and thus had re-entered the cycle of reincarnation. For the green goo he had been reduced to, simple nourishment greatly boosting his regeneration rate until his body would be returned to the same state as when he activated Ashizogi Jizo´s ability.

Or it should have been.

"Oi Nemu! I told you to procure pure! extract. Not this impure brew!" His disembodied voice carried clear irritation over her mistake, as well as irritation that he could not punish her for it.

"Yes, Mayuri-sama.I apologize Mayuri-sama. Shall I exchange it or proceed?"

"Tch, babbling fool. It will make due."

By now the green goo had already retaken a vaguely human shape.

Soon now ...

"Well?"

His vague inquiry, laced with malicious interest, jolted his artificial daughter out of the idleness she had fallen into, making her walk over to one of the various monitors and call up an already prepared screen.

"The monitoring bacteria you have implanted within the Quincy designated specimen:Q1928 Ishida Uryu have established themselves within 60% of his body. He is currently being held prisoner with most of the other drifters, except the ones identified as Kurosaki Ichigo, Inoue Orihime and Shiba Ganju and seems to have lost the majority of his spiritual abilities due to the overload caused by his sacrificial technique."

"The specimen has not been caught yet?"

"According to the readings we get from the subjects sensory organs, the target of your interest is not with him."

"Tch! Oh well, she won´t make it long on her own. No matter then, as they are captured I will be put in charge of modifying their memories anyway."

"Yes, Mayuri-sama."

* * *

Finally the majority of the molasses had reformed itself into a head, an arm, a pair of legs and some few pieces of flesh that had been his torso.

Just now Nemu was outfitting him via an remote controlled semi-organic arm, with replacements for his destroyed organs. Any remaining smaller injuries would quickly be healed with the flesh-mending drug. Its pain was not worth the wait to stay in this degrading state any longer than necessary.

As his flesh began to stretch over the artificial organs, sudden pain rattled him and the snapping of bones into place from his arm made him miss the sickening feeling erupting from within his upper body. While his arm was still forming, a new pain finally registered to him, oozing out from the side and back of his stomach, a foul stench akin to rot filled the air and an irregular substance, similar to mashed flesh, made its way into out of his body unbidden. Like the arms of an octopus, tentacles of putrid red wormed their way through the pool.

With an almost detached gaze he studied his convulsing stomach and heaving chest. Vaguely he noticed, that his left arm had re-grown malformed with an additional smaller hand and something more like a small shovel than a hand. Not even giving him time to analyse his problem, even his feet began to spasm uncontrollably, as he felt the, by now not unfamiliar, liquefaction of his insides.

"Nemu! Nemu ... useless girl! What are you doing!" He screams at her, his head breaking through the shallow liquid, as standing was still impossible for his body, turning before his eyes from a greenish-gold to a sickening red, as she stands calmly in the adjacent room. Looking at him with eyes devoid of anything. There was no hatred nor sorrow, rather she did not notice his plight at all.

For once his ever faithful servant did not obey. She merely turned around and left, sliding into place from within the wall, the airtight door to his room closing automatically behind her, dooming him.

For the first time, in a quite long existence, Kurotsuchi was left dumbfounded.

"Impossible! No! ... when did ... ?"

The now darkening toxin within the chamber, by now it looked more like coalescing blood, surged violently and consumed his raised head, clogging his throat before its surface turned into a crystalline black and hardened.

Burying his cursing voice.

* * *

Days later, the black surface still laid unbroken, starkly contrasting with the smooth white stone, nothing moved nor were there any sounds whatsoever within either of the rooms.

...

Surging from within the tarry black, a pale, crudely shaped, two-pronged limb crushed furtively against the glass like layer entombing it, but sank down unsuccessfully.

In response, light had bloomed into life. Planks, shining an incandescent pale-green, crossing each other and forming a fence-like symbol, had appeared. Those had effectively suppressed and drowned him again into the tenebrous concoction.

It was then that the feeling of oddness and abnormality made way for a blistering cold rage. For the spiritual pressure given of by the unknown demon art trapping him, had not been Nemu´s. It belonged to a man irritating on a similar level as Kisuke, a man who always wore a mask, just as that infernal woman.

` _AAiiiizeeeeennnnn_?!´

Once again out from the darkness, akin to an avenging wraith, the monstrous hand pressed against the powerful barrier sealing him into the depths.

Focusing, he revealed and began the meticulous task of deciphering and destroying the layered demon art keeping him imprisoned, until he gathered his entire being and ruthlessly tore apart the sealing technique. The bars of his cage, shimmering, until a crack formed at one of the crossings. A low sound of breaking glass screeched across the outside. With the ongoing destruction, it lost its unnatural sheen as the systematic dismantling of the barrier continued.

`Break! Destroy! Weave! Connect! Tear apart! Cut the thread! Attach it to what has already been severed and let it tear at each other! Twist and counter!´

And he repeated the process ...

and repeated ...

and repeated ...

... until it had all been unravelled. So did the light vanish and the dark fell over the chamber.

Yet from the recesses of his supposed grave pale-purple tendrils of power rose to the surface. Great knots rose and fell, knots edged with thorns that moved not just back and forth but up and down in waves, pressing against the crystalline wall separating him from freedom. Flames and mist, flooding the pool.

Only to fall back as if in defeat, its meagre potency exhausted?

* * *

Alerted by her father's struggles, Nemu had made her way down to his personal lab and secret chamber. She did not understand, yough none else had felt his comparatively weak spirit pressure, she felt the blinding, all consuming rage within.

It shouldn´t have happened, there was no reason to...

Hurriedly she entered the antechamber and operated the computers to open the door to the recuperation room. Finally as she could peek inside her insides jolted at the sight of the pearly black surface, contradicting all her expectations. After Ishida Uryu had failed to kill her father either intentional or not, she had commented on how she simply had felt elated upon seeing him survive.

And yet how did she feel now?

...

Yet she was given no time, to ponder her question.

Carried by a rising reiatsu, a silent screech of unadulterated agony rippled through the lab.

The glossy, unblemished surface suddenly sported a single minute crack.

And an arm blazing with power surged through this minute crack ...

the darkness ...

shattering the surface ...

sending out its own, contrasting cry into the universe. Life/Rebirth! Victory!

As a dark flood surged against her.

* * *

The tiled floor was littered with crystals swimming in a mixture of gelatinous black and poisonous crimson blood. The initial door was missing, along with most of the door frame, leaving a smoking hole in the wall. Beyond lay the ruined and bound, currently dead, but soon to be revived, carcass of the 12th Divisions Assistant Commander Kurotsuchi Nemu. Her arms seemed to have been cruelly ripped from their sockets, while her lower body had been obliterated by the potent demon art that had blasted through the wall. Subtle threads of power, halted any yought processes and warned their creator should they be circumvented. It had turned out, that the biologic "self-shut down order" he had planted within her body had been overruled.

"Akon! ... Bring me reports of every detail that happened in the Court since the invasion of the drifter, now! ... And a set of replacement organs for the torso! ... And a set of clothes from my quarters. ... And a meal, something with pike fish, no onions, NOW!"

 _`Just by looking, every third rate can tell, approximately how many people his blade has killed and in what manner._

 _As it is his tool._

 _And I can see on her, as well. Since she too, is merely a tool of mine._

 _How dare you Aizen!_

 _How dare you mongrel lay a hand on my creation!_

 _If you want to smite me, you should be prepared to have me unleash untold horrors upon you!´_

* * *

 **Several days later, Seireitei - the Court of Pure Souls, 1st Division quarters, office of the Division Commander-General:**

"Kurotsuchi-Taicho, do you judge the 13 Divisions we have created to be of lasting greatness?..."

He did not look back on the younger man, his eyes fixed upon the rising sun decorating the back of his office, to his left, the sight of the still damaged buildings of the Court and the sun breaking on gold-tiled roofs stretched until the horizon. He felt tired, though the fire still burned strongly within him, the incredible weight of what has trespassed pressed down from outside, forcing him into an unending contemplation. Not that the treachery of three commanders, nor the identities of the traitors in itself shocked him, after having witnessed and suffered from betrayal for millennia, he had learned that it was only a question of when and who, as no one can truly be trusted, sadly, at the same time, showing a more than appropriate level of paranoia only invited discord as well.

Under the unforgiving rays of the sun spreading through the Seireitei, an image that seemed to mock his grim mood, they were left to ponder on the future of all realms.

"... A 1000 years have gone by... the youngsters of today cannot even imagine a world without this ... institution called the 13 Royal Court Guard Divisions, even I, deep down, got convinced that it is to be eternal ... recently I failed to realise how insignificant a time, a mere 1000 years really are. Though I could never imagine being replaced myself, I witnessed the coming and going of so many commanders that I felt this cycle would forever continue."

There was little need to appear strong in front of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the youth had already seen enough in his life and would care little anyway. The younger spirits response was as uncaring as expected.

"An organisation consists out of its people. People all perceive time differently. If what is perceived is different for every person ..." He left the rest unsaid.

While his painted face and drugged body hid any sign of tiredness, it did nothing to conceal his irritation, or at least the lack of his usual maniacal grin or that his spirit pressure was in turmoil. After all he had just recuperated after having had his body gravely injured by the young Quincy, had transmutated it to escape and then had to deal with his "daughter" being under the hypnosis of the traitor. Which was unknown to all Shinigami, as he would not suffer the disgrace they would heap upon him.

Following that he was presented with a seemingly insurmountable hurdle in cleaning up the situation. It was understandable, but Genryusai would have rather seen the scientist´s usual demeanour. A little constant in an ever-changing world.

"Not very helpful, that is how I lived till now. ... Your analysis?"

"Yes. Under the assumption that the 8th Division commander and yourself have already made your own analysis and that you are aware of the contents of my own report, I shall present my deductions. First, Aizen´s Zanpaktou; Unohana-Taicho reported that its power is a perfect hypnosis and Aizen called it an illusion..." Trailing off, he added in pensiveness. "...Sadly, I missed the chance to see that infernal woman in her chopped up state, as I visited the Coordinated Relief Station she had already recovered from her decapitation." And there it was back. The mad clown tapped his chin in thought, looking just as excited as he sounded.

"... In short, his initial release allows him to alter our perception of reality potentially freely. However, only slight alterations were witnessed till now, so I assume that the application of the hypnosis is limited in how convincing the false sensory data appears to us. As such obvious errors could more easily turn up in more complex hypnosis caused sensory input. Just like the corpse-dolls reiatsu was not exactly Aizen´s, little errors can occur and help us identify if we are subjected to Kyouka Suigetsu´s ability. At least we should not have to worry about being able to mistake our foes and close allies as well as our perception of reality being totally under his control. ... Unfortunately, I cannot accurately estimate how long he can keep up such a hypnosis."

" So the fake corpse was his Zanpaktou itself?"

"Indeed, he stuck his greatest tool on a means that Aizen´s hypnotism only affects the part of our brain responsible for all the senses but his range is limited. He achieves this not by implanting a trace of his spiritual pressure into us, nor by confusing our senses with his spirit pressure, as all potent enough spirits can, but by converting a part of our spirit power, it ... `mutates´ after seeing his initial release."

"Is there a way to lift his technique over the affected?"

"Theoretically it would be easy, but I highly doubt anyone would survive the necessary surgery. Due to the way how the hypnosis is anchored within our bodies we also cannot overcome his hypnosis with Kaido, as there is no foreign spirit pressure to expulse and there also is no sign that the affected brain area changes back. Perhaps after Kyouka Suigetsu´s destruction, it will revert. I am already working on a mechanism that tells us who is subjected to his hypnotism... Him saying, that it is an illusion is just to lead us onto a false path and telling us that Tousen could not be affected due to his blindness may also be just a trick, but it is a viable possibility. To be safe I questioned 3rd Seat, 9th Division Hijikata, who is also blind, however, sadly he was shown Aizen´s release when he still had function of his eyes. Work into googles with inbuilt reiatsu recognition is already underway. They should offer us at least a window of opportunity until Aizen realises their utility and adjusts his hypnosis accordingly to have us no longer be able to read the data."

"However We can still assume that we are only manipulated when he unseals his initial release and that he cannot use it remotely, correct?"

"Affirmative... however, this brings us to his potential final release. When I heard, that he faked his test for the position as commander, I entertained the thought, that he in fact had no final release. He could have easily faked it after all. During the last few days however, there were three entities acting outside of our known pattern of his initial release, ..."

Namely Nemu, but he was still not done taking her apart putting her back together. If all went well nobody would notice that Aizen had violated his work and the indignity he felt because of that.

"... namely the gate guardians: Higonyudo, Danzomaru and Kaiwan. All of them had unexplainable incidents, their actions itself could still be explained by what we know of his initial release, however at the time Aizen is assumed to have sealed his Zanpaktou and they all lacked any kind of memory of the time they were under his thrall!"

A lone eye cracked open, on the turned head, prompting him to elaborate.

"I have to work with data handed down to me and because of that I cannot be sure..."

"Too bad you were not present." The commander-general quipped back only to be largely ignored.

"... but their actions do not suggest just a more elaborate procedure of his regular hypnosis. Normally the hypnotized beings act on their own volition and just have a false image of reality. They thus display emotions and are largely behave as they would normally. The 3 gatekeepers showed awareness of their surroundings but did not show any appropriate care, and when being spoken to by their colleague Jidanbo, they did not answer. When I interrogated the guardians they only talked of how they blacked out. Thus I conclude that Aizen has a final release, maybe not 97 years ago when he was made commander but at least he does now, under which conditions its use is possible, is an unknown variable. For now I lean toward him implanting `programs´ into selected individuals, already affected by his Shikai release, which trigger predetermined actions at a predetermined input transmitted by the sensory example the gatekeepers seeing the standoff on Sokyouku Hill. Sadly factors such as the necessity of visual perception or the duration of exposure and control are still unknown. However, since he did not use this ability on a commander-level combatant, this ability might be restricted by the amount of the victims spiritual power or pressure."

"Kyōka Suigetsu,the moon reflected in water and a flower in a mirror are things which can be seen, but never held... Is he able to fully control, those affected by his final release, every time he unseals it in their presence?"

"I do not know. But personally, I wouldn´t take the risk."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni placed his long calloused fingers against his forehead attempting to rid himself of the headache induced by the last days of turmoil. The betrayal of several commanders, while regrettable, did not happen for the first nor the last time. Still, they were pillars of the court, bastions of strength for their subordinates and something aches at the thought of their treachery, as it they did every time, even more so when the sudden traitors had carried his hope for the future.

So many were wounded in the traitor´s escape, but they were healing. The Seireitei, the Gotei 13 will recover, just as it always has and he shall do his part. Though he shall never admit it, the loss of Central 46 was a boon for them, giving him free reign for as long as the martial law lasted and thus postpone the time a new council would have to be elected. Having seen what is being considered "ancient tradition" replacing each other several times, he is too old to not acknowledge that sometimes moderate changes were necessary.

"Believing Aizen, he learned of the Hogyoku´s whereabouts only as Kuchiki went missing in district 3600. He deduced that the important spirit ground was Kisuke´s base of operations, just as we did, it is only logical after all, and then proceeded to kill the members of Central 46. ... The invasion was easily anticipated by Aizen, and served him in the following three ways: The first was the breaking of the Soul-Warding Membrane, the resulting damage allowed him to flee via the world rip created by the Hollows. Furthermore as a smokescreen, drawing our near undivided attention and indeed did we miss that the guards of Central 46 were MIA. This however confirms that Aizen´s hypnosis is limited to areas under his immediate presence. He could have installed surveillance equipment and show everyone who approached the missing guards, but he didn´t, he cannot affect us with his sense-hypnosis remotely. And thirdly to weaken our forces, his direct victims were the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th and myself, furthermore the presence of Commander Hitsugaya and the 5th assistant commander in the chambers of Central 46, served also as a precaution against our resident monster woman. I have no doubt that he also anticipated the actions of Commander Kyouraku and Ukitake, hoping you would have killed them or at least severely injured. Kisuke sure botched it and we danced according to his tune, as well... In the city wide chase following the drifter invasion the city-wide spirit pressure scanning, which Commander Soi Fong and myself unsuccessfully proposed to C46 years ago, but were refused since it would put too much power into my hands, would have been nice..."

"War time permission granted."

"...Always a pleasure... Estimated time until completeness is two weeks..."

"Wasn´t it three weeks last time?"

"I already established it in the areas under mine and Commander Soi Fong´s jurisdiction... Furthermore, Ichimaru acted as he withdrew Kagami Naoto, 4th Seat, 3rd Division from the team chasing the quincy brat and the girl, thus prolonging the invasion... can I have her?"

"Negative. We forbid it."

"Tch ... due to his withdrawal and the later withdrawal of Burakko Rokku, 4th Seat, 8th Division, at least that one had been justified, Ikkanzaka Jirobo 4th Seat, 7th Division also gave up the chase, after all his Zanpaktou had been broken by the Quincy before the two others saved him. Allowing the drifters to roam freely and finally be picked up by my sensors. They knew, the girl would wake my interest me and it seems Aizen even knew of the sacrificial technique the Quincy had at his disposal ... at least I hope that he didn´t plan for a regular Quincy to defeat me. And thus halted me from repairing the Shakonmaku´s soul-warding membrane"

"Did you manage to get data on this revolutionary technique?"

"Yes, the collected left over reishi of the "Letzt Stil" gave us some information, our calculations put him above commander-level. Please also take note of the passage in my report, how this technique may have been used in the extermination of the Quincy, 200 years ago..."

"I have read it. However I can assure you that your fears are groundless."

"... Very well,... Aizen, also had Nemu guaranty the survival of the Quincy, by giving him an antidote to my poison..."

"Your words aren´t truthful, Kurotsuchi-Taicho."

He could not help rolling his eyes at the others back. "...I have no indications that Aizen´s hypnosis was the cause but the data I got from her also doesn´t contradict this theory, I just can´t prove it."

Finally the ancient spirit fell into motion, heavily using his cane to move himself in front of his desk, facing his commander for the first time since the last meeting. It should not be like this, once upon a time, the 13 monstrosities, each leading their own divisions, were generals in their own right and merely acted independently towards the same goal. Facing the Court meant having 13 formidable enemies, not just himself.

"As you just reported, your own assistant commander was... dismantled, ... temporarily? Another body on the list of skeletons in your open closet, that Soi Fong-Taicho, will bug me about, to imprison you for. These include several of your own officers, who either died in an experiment or due to the toxic gas spread by your Bankai, as no antidote could be procured in time.

"Most of those had been out of self defence ... or at least just retribution. Furthermore it is within the authorities of a Taicho to execute his own division members as punishment."

...

"What an outstanding, persuasive argument ... Can we be sure of Urahara Kisuke´s loyalty?"

"No, I doubt he collaborates with Aizen, but Kisuke´s actions did play into Aizen´s hands perfectly. A personal agenda, perhaps even revenge against us for his banishment, is not to be dismissed."

"Hmmm. That was a radically different answer as the one Kyouraku-Taicho gave me..." He paused for a moment. "... With three traitors, that leaves our combat ready high ranking officers at myself, yourself and Soi Fong-Taicho, as well as the 2nd Seats Sasakibe Choujiro-Fukutaicho, who received no substantial injuries while in combat with Abarai Renji, who achieved his Bankai using Urahara Kisuke´s device, and pursued the drifters, Omaeda ... what is that one's first name? ... no matter, Kotetsu Isane-Fukutaicho, who until recently had to overwork herself managing the 4th, Iba Tetsuzaemon, Kusajishi Yachiru, ..."

"What a wonderful naming sense of that gorilla."

"... and Matsumoto Rangiku... At least the gate guardians could by now resume their duties. Of the high rank officers, Commanders Zaraki, Kyouraku, Ukitake, Soi Fong, and We are still undecided about Kuchiki, are not trustworthy either. And I shall be frank, neither are you nor Unohana-Taicho..."

"Since when have commanders ever been trustworthy?"

"...Not to mention that the 2nd Seats of the 3rd, 5th, should she survive, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, especially, as well as every other officer, are also uncertain elements and need to be put under the surveillance of the Onmitsukidou. I am not amused at ALL Kurotsuchi-Taicho, the current situation is most dire. Before this incident, I could at least hope, to be able to die in the knowledge, that someone would continue to protect the Balance of Souls and the Soul Society."

"It really saddens me to say this, but perhaps you shouldn´t be too visually untrusting of the possible traitors, that too, as my ... more profound than normal interest, could very well be factors in Aizen´s plan."

"Hmph, so you believe he mocked your security simply to enrage you? Is this your arrogance talking or aren´t you then just acting as he wanted you to?"

A vicious snarl wormed its way onto the widely regarded madman´s face. "Naturally I know that Aizen may have expected me to escape and take a greater interest in this war, though I have reasons for that which he doesn´t know too, **so** **what?** **I simply have to overcome the imbeciles expectations!"**

The hunched over scientist then continued, suddenly calm again, in a disinterested tone, as if his outburst just now did never happen and Yamamoto let him, for his words had at least assured him the other would remain loyal no matter what kind of opportunities would distract him from the war effort

.

"From his own words, Aizen obviously means to topple the Soul King, and to do so he has to create an Ouken. The necessary information is linked with the info about the Ozokutokumu who protect the palace and obtainable nearly exclusively from yourself or the archives within the Central 46 compound, incidentally where Aizen spend days holed up. He would deduce that facing those idiots..."

He rolls his eyes at the elders admonishing flicker of reiatsu.

"... without a hidden ace is unwise. Which means he would not attack the 13 Divisions as long as he is not ready to fight the Ozokutokumu, as he can assume that they would attack him if he defeats us."

He bluntly informed his superior.

"Which is why he did not battle us but fled to Hueco Mundo?" Yamamoto inquired to be sure he and the scientist had the same idea.

"Indeed..." and the only way to create the Ouken is the Jureichi, which, currently, just so happens to be district 3600, called Karakura by the humans, the drifters hometown."

"Denied, we will not involve those humans. They did more than their duty already, the rest is our duty. However, I agree with your thesis."

"How generous, Yamamoto-Soutaicho. But, I believe you have already realised, o wise Soutaicho, that neither using the secret arts of Komamura´s clan nor the barbarian will give us a positive outcome against the DAMNED HYPNOSIS!"

"Kuchiki Rukia, that name will stay with me for a while, happened to meet a human child, resembling her previous superior Shiba Kaien under circumstances that force her to gift him her spiritual power and tools. ...Casualty sure is entertaining sometimes. Beings of the physical phase are all subjected to the will of the Oversouls, we shall not involve ourselves with them, having to fear how deeply we may be manipulated."

"Soutaicho-..."

"Enough, I made my decision, he will not be dragged into this more than necessary."

"It would be the height of idiocy to let such potential go unused! Why not let him decide for himself?" He pleaded almost exasperated before once again calming himself down understanding that his superior had closed the subject for now.

"... Continuing: The only trump card we have any indication of ... is the Hogyoku, he may intend to use it on himself and on Hollows..."

"Does he really believe an army of freshly created artificial Arrancar can topple the might of the Gotei?"

"If he destabilizes us enough ... he might believe so? However herein lies a problem, you asked me to perform several simulations..."

"Indeed, and the results?"

"Inconclusive. We have run 340560 successive simulation, one after another and all of them failures or inconclusive ... The number of unknown variables I have to work with is simply too great to produce an immediate favourable simulation, Soutaicho. Even with the meagre data Kisuke gave us via Shihouin Yoruichi, my machines cannot make accurate predictions with so many unknown variables. We could only narrow down the unknown variables to 372 in total, yough we already have a good estimate of further 25. Give me more useful data and I will give you a smaller number of possible scenarios. Until then we will simply need to go through them all and hope one of them holds a favourable outcome for us. The single most important variables are the potential of an completed Arrancar created with the Hogyoku and the full abilities of the Hogyoku, or if Aizen can influence the forced evolution in some form."

"The abilities of the Hogyoku? Wasn´t it to create hybrids of souls dwelling within the Soul Society and Hollows? Commander in Chief Soi Fong´s men even discovered that Aizen stole several Asauchi from the storage rooms. Those should be used for the creation of Arrancars."

"That would only partly correct, after all the process by which it forces the amalgamation is still not completely known, Urahara Kisuke failed to discover this and he never performed tests or simulations for Hollows, furthermore this poses the question just how Aizen wants to overthrow us, even if he throws the whole of Hueco Mundo at us, at the least, he will fail against the Ozokutokumu, simply becoming a hybrid and having a Zanpaktou does not stretch the limits of a spirit body that much ... however ... I once discovered an object vaguely similar to the Hogyoku."

With this single sentence the atmosphere in the room was overthrown, as if a wild fire had just been sparked.

 **"Explain."** Yamamoto did not raise his voice, on the contrary it got quieter but the reiatsu which was carried by the words synced with the air and flooded the office within the limits of the Kido Kekkai he had erected, to keep out any possible spies the traitors undoubtedly had left behind.

"The object in question is commonly referred to as the `Jewel of four Souls´ by the Youkai and heretical skill users of the Japanese island of Honshu roughly 500 years ago during their civil war."

"A Hogyoku facsimile appearing in the realm of the living? Why was I never informed." He growled out.

"The population of Plus, mythical beings and Altered of the observed areas on the island was so high, that the Kido Corps, who had the duty to of offering surveillance for the soul-monitoring officers back in that time, simply did not pick up any major traces of it. After all the Research and Development Institute did not existed back then, the Shikon no Tama appeared as a widespread rumour among the Altered of eastern Honshu around 600 years ago. However, no Altered seemed to have claimed it, as we have no indication of any of them growing to be a new threat, I guess humans had sealed it somewhere. Yet some years later, there exist several mentions of soul-monitoring officers, that the influence of the Shikon no Tama was felt across the island. Nothing major happened, until within the span of two days an Altered climbed to a level of spirit pressure similar to that of a commander, only to then vanish without a trace ... as did any rumours concerning the Shikon no Tama. This orb was accredited with abilities on the lines of creation and strengthening of altered and bestowing spiritual powers on humans and animals ... if that had been the wish of the wielder. At the time myself and the deserter Shiba Isshin were active in the region on behalf of my father and we encountered fragments of the `jewel´ before it vanished."

"Are you claiming, Urahara Kisuke created an omnipotent wish granting device? According to his own research documents, doing so should not have been in his intention."

"I would not go so far, as to say either the Hogyoku or the Shikon are capable of granting ANY wish, that would necessitate a heretical practice able to affect several worlds and all concepts. What I do believe is that it has the ability to change the composition of a spirit body so as to bestow the power necessary to achieve the wishes of its wielder. However, this is nothing more than a hypothesis steaming from my lack of data ... if ..." He pauses, trying to judge the effect of his next carefully selected words all the while gaining a predatory glint in his eyes he continued. "... I would be allowed to use the Dangai´s properties to send someone 500 years back in time, we could ascertain my theory and thus cancel out Aizen´s ace!"

A single eye, filled with a spinning wheel of flames, ponders heavily upon him. **"Are you mad Kurotsuchi?!"**

"Crazy people don´t know they are crazy. I know I am crazy, therefore I am not crazy.. Isn´t that crazy?" He explained, more nervous than in half a lifetime.

"We should execute you just for knowing of that."

"If I am right and we do nothing ... we. may. be. doomed! ... If so, I will not be the one responsible. And as long as you cannot be certain of Kisuke´s loyalty, I deem myself quite irreplaceable."

"Enough of this farce! We will not temper with time just because of your curiosity!"

"Why not?! It´s not as if there even is any risk with it! The timeline isn´t something that can be destroyed in the first place, not like we are in a human science fiction show? All that happened has already happened!"

"I know, I was there when the Dangai was built. ... It is not a hypothetical change in the past I fear but the reactions of the other spiritual entities across the known worlds and beyond who might notice it. It is forbidden the pacts with the other powers forbid us from using that measure. Again, I will not risk opening the realms to another war just because of your curiosity!"

`THONK´ The sound of Yamamoto´s deceptively hidden Zanpaktou slamming against the floor put an end to this discussion as well.

"As we are already speaking of the other entities populating the realms, did you notice any unusual movements from them?"

"No, our sensors took note of nothing, but as they cannot pick up preparations or political treaties I suggest putting Soi Fon´s lackeys to work. ... Are you fearing that they may be in cahoots with Aizen?"

"Why did he not kill more of us? He could have, and logic dictates that in his stead anyone would have done as much damage as they could."

"Rather than fearing that some mythological would ally himself with Aizen, you fear that..."

"Aizen may still need us to combat whatever from across the horizon and then he can lunge at the weakened Gotei. Who knows what kind of information he got a hold off and disguised it from our eyes with that Zanpatkou of his?"

"Tch!"

...

* * *

A uncontested weight lay over the whole of the 1st Division, and it was a weight of three parts.

The most obvious part was a vast and oppressive weight by things that were lacking.

If there had been regular circumstances, the elite soul reapers of the 1st would have hurried to and from across the pristine complex, the tip tap caused by the soft steps from straw clothed feet accompanied by the sounds of air moved aside by their garbs, piles of records and mission reports from across the planes of existence being transported and otherwise worked on.

If there had been one of the usual tea ceremonies later in the day, an underlying anticipation would have been felt.

If there had been warriors eager to better themselves, at the very least one would have felt the waves of reiatsu ripple from the training hall.

If there had been a meeting of the Council of Commanders, the lower ranks would have began betting if Zaraki would show up or not, judging on the quantity of the torrents of pressure streaming away from the council hall.

If there had been a breach of security ... but no, of course there was no breach of security.

In fact there were none of the above and sot the weight had settled in, unbidden.

Inside the inner offices, a silver haired man was the only moving yet easily missed, presence. The ever loyal 1st Division 2nd Seat Saskibe Chōjirō Tadaoki worked diligently on the ever growing piles of reports brought in by the backpack carrying members of the Inner Court Troop with their roof-top hats, maroon kimono over black form-fitting legging and long sleeved tops, who dared not make a sound considering their place and time, as well as countless Jigokucho.

His anticipation could be felt in how his pupil less eyes sometimes darted toward the back of his office, merely waiting for the smallest of changes in the atmosphere, yet not daring to bring about a change himself while sweating under his white turtle neck and jinbaori.

In doing this, yough unnoticed, he added his small, furtive weight to the larger oppressive one. They made an amalgam of sorts, a counterpoint.

Amidst the first two weights, the third weight was not an easy thing to notice.

If you were attentive long enough, you might began to feel it in the smouldering heat permeating all of the building.

You might notice it in your subconscious desire _to take your legs under your arms and storm out of there as if hellfire was hot on your heels_ , a sentiment shared with most existences around you.

You would feel it in the seemingly reversal of gravity, pulling you steadily into the core of the 1st Division, further into the felt hellfire.

It was in the dry air, dampening your own spirit and in the lone man seemingly unbothered.

It was in the closed door at the back of his office, barred to any sudden visitors.

It was in the unused existence of the simple wooden desk that stood at the far end of a bare office overlooking half of the golden tiled roofs of the Court of Pure Souls.

And it was in the presence of the elder who sat there, motionless, aged eyes, that had seen far too much, closed and spirit lost to the turbulences of his own mind.

The elders bald, wrinkled scalp, his hair lost to the flow of time, should be bathed in the sunlight, with joyous rays seeming to mock the current mood of the entirety of the ancient city.

And yet the normally unflappable rays of the sun seemed to arch away from his being, as if in fright or reverence. Thus keeping the entity surrounded by his own sombre atmosphere, filled with ashes and smoke of long forgotten battlefields.

The 1st Division was his, just as the third weight was his. This was appropriate, as it was the most profound, holding the others inside itself and being their cause.

It was bottomless deep and unmentionable high, imperturbable and like an unmovable pivot.

But also the weight of a mountain, nay a smouldering volcano.

It as the weight of an ancient, already buried demon who even now still carries the weight of the world on his hunched back yet was steadily walking toward his very own personal burnout inferno.

 _"Still, Yamamoto Genryusai, why didn´t you at least try to attack me, did you realise it would have been futile? That on this Sokyoku Hill, I alone could have ended your prided history of the 13 Court Guard Divisions?"_

 _"Silence, child! While We are unable to attack thee because of thy illusions, you and thy co-conspirators would still have perished before Ourself alone!"_

 _"So be it a stalemate then, ... still, to think you wouldn´t even be willing to sacrifice your precious commanders ... how tame of you."_

It had not been fear that stilled his blade that day. Occurrences such as these had happened and will keep happening still and fear simply turned into something to fuel him until it began to fade entirely.

But he had not been willing to the pay the price presented. Only the future would show if his choice had been correct. At the time he simply judged the heads of those that may have perished more important than those of the traitors.

 _`And how did tiger meat taste like? Siberian, especially?´_

With the gathered might of the Court Guard Divisions an impromptu invasion of Hueco Mundo through the opened crack in the world of the Soul Society would have been feasible and may very well have ended the threat immediately.

But if he had acted as such, not merely three positions would be unoccupied at the next meeting of commanders.

And that price he had not been willing to pay, nor was he now.

Still, to merely put forth appropriate measures might prove ineffective, especially as he lacked the necessary information, as Kurotsuchi had pointed out to him.

If so ...

Something shifted within the citadel of the first.

"Your orders, Soutaicho-sama?"

"I don´t like our front-picture for the recruitment fair brochure that should come out next month, Sasakibe. With this attire ... the dignity, associated with the position of Soutaicho, is absent. And even worse, my chest is drawn like that of an old woman."

"Sir? I believe those to be your ribs..." He tried to explain in vain, but was interrupted by Yamamoto spitting out the drink he had just been brought.

"Sasakibe!"

"Yes, Soutaicho?"

"... why did you bring me one of these ... kouffees of yours, what happened to my tea?"

"In light of recent events ..."

"Do I look as if We would care about "recent events"? ... More importantly, what do you think? How does the meat of a Siberian tiger tastes like?"

The ever loyal Fukutaicho already dreaded where this conversation was going. Nonetheless he replied as was his duty. "... Awful, sir. In the world of the living I once met a Russian hunting party, who discussed this topic, I can assure ..." But he was kept from finishing again.

"Hmm, too bad. That will be all, Sasakibe. I have more important matters to attend to than the recruitment brochure, you may keep the front-picture."

"Acknowledged!"

In a way he was content when leaving the office, at least he had managed to prolong the existence of a species.

* * *

 **Credit for the Yamamoto-meat joke goes to:** **Seraphim222- division dynamics**

 **The scene in which Mayuri liberates himself from his concrete-coffin was inspired by "Exorcism from thablueGRRL.**

 **The reason Kurotsuchi actually survived, is his paranoia. Had he told Nemu everything about his rebuilding process he would have died. What she did should have totally sealed his body in a block of matter, which then was enveloped in a kido. However Mayuri had had a few dregs of his body in the form of goo and those saved him as they were unaffected by the matter sealing his formed body and preserved his consciousness.**

 **You don´t think Jidanbo should have been able to at least repel Ichigo at his current level back then?**

 **In the end of "End of Hypnosis" chapters, Jidanbo is seen to jump across the entire Sokyoku hill and then defeat two of the three controlled gate guardians easily, even yough Aizen had commented just before to Soifon and Yoruichi that they would not be able to fend them off and keep him captive.**

 **Yes Ichigo will be OOC. Why? Cause his canon character is IMO unrealistic and inconsistent, if you think back to the 1st Arc, he was 1. only helping Rukia reluctantly and 2. not constantly undermining authority figures: for example: he was rather docile when being chewed out by his teacher after the Don Kannonji incident. He merely tries to protect a growing circle of cherished people and sometimes things that happen in front of him. Which, at the beginning at least, was not a typical shonen MC behaviour became one with the Soul Society Arc. Furthermore he just lost fights, different than in canon, which means that he is right now in one of his brooding phases.**

 **How did they all figure out that Urahara and the exiles where hiding out in Karakura? The city has the highest spiritual activity of the world of the living aka if you search for a spirit - start there!**

 **Why did they not hunt him? Cause they did not find him in the city and sending massive forces out would make him more careful or leave, thus it is better to just monitor the city and look for suspicious behaviour, - still in canon the Onmitsukido even reported Ichigo fending off the Menos Grande but they did not notice Urahara and Tessai two steps beside him?!**


	3. Hell s gates are always open for Devils

**Bleach and DxD crossover ...**

 **because srsly? In all those crossover in this category that recently were put up, why does no one work with the concept that a Human´s reincarnation into a Devil via Evil Piece system most probably condemns the soul into Jigoku after death according to the meta rules of Bleach? It´s not as if the Underworld populated by the Devils in DxD IS called Hell. Even the Japanese term is Meikai not Jigoku.**

* * *

 **Here Ichigo appears when Asia was about to be reincarnated into a Devil, doing his part time job for once. Not every supernatural ability of humans display in the original series is a sacred gear, in the first place, why would a god give random humans the tools to kill gods?**

* * *

 **Hell´s gates are always open for Devils**

After many fights, unveiled secrets, brushes with death and much suffering, Raynare, while still soaked from Akeno´s wakeup call so that he could not even differentiate between the water dripping from her hair and her tears pitifully begged for her life to him. Was it Karma? The Fallen Angel that had masqueraded as his girlfriend with the goal to kill him and whose orders led to the death of his friend Ashia Argento, her face did it look like his own when he had realised that she had planned to kill him?

He would never know. They would never be able to exchange memories now that she had just been turned to ashes by the devilish beauty Rias Gremory.

The president of the Occult Research Club.

His King.

And in the end he had not been able to watch her execution, rather gazing blindly into the distance out of the windows, for while he hated her a part of him still clung to the love-filled-memories he had made with her when he was still a Human.

 _`How long ago that feels.´_

"Goodbye, my love."

Behind him a female corpse vanished by turning to dust and a bunch of raven feathers. ... And a single tennis ball sized glowing marble floating in the air. A serene picture so unbefitting the context.

A certain Shinigami, silently observing the whole scene shares his thoughts about the strangeness of the picture.

Before Issei can come to terms with the situation Rias gently cusps it into her hands, somehow pulling it out of the air and further down in front of her chest. Which he for a change did not decide to ogle, the circumstances to morbid even for him.

"Um ... this light is Ashia´s ...?" Issei asked in puzzlement, believing it to be her crystallized healing ability.

Rias nearly casually turned to him, "Now then, we shall return this to Ashia Argento-san."

"B-But, Ashia is already..." he stuttered, now even more confused only slowly awakening out off the stillness and trance he had assumed in grief.

Rias however did not seem to listen as she slowly approached the others again, the rest of her peerage solemnly gathering behind her.

 _`Ashia won´t come back. In the end I couldn´t save her! Even if I´ve defeated the Fallen Angels in the end, I couldn´t save her. What is the meaning of coming here...? No, that´s rude to my comrades who fought for my and Ashia´s sakes.´_

With these thoughts the boy perked up a bit again, or at least donned that mask, in an attempt to at least make the others who so willingly were ready to risk their lives for his interest.

With a shaky bow he tried to express his deep gratitude towards his colleagues who all looked at him with different expressions. Ranging from Akeno who looked far too smug, to Rias who was astounded and still held the light in her palm, to the sword wielding bishounen and white haired dwarf looking on with neutral faces.

"Prez, everyone. Thank you for fighting for my and Ashia´s sake. Bu-but even though you went through the trouble to help me, Ashia is already..."

"Issei, what do you think this is? ..." Rias swiftly interrupted him while taking out a black chess piece from her school uniforms pocket.

"That?" He asked bewildered while Yuuto and Koneko passed by him and picked up Ashia´s body carefully and Akeno was producing some kind of complex arcane spell circle on the ground, where the two placed her down in the middle.

"This is a `Bishop´ piece. It´s a bit late for explaining, but for Devils holding a title of nobility, such as `King´, the number of pieces they can have is 9 for the `Pawn´; and `Knight´, `Rook´, and `Bishop´ all have two each. `Queen´ has one. In total 15 pieces."

Rias then steps into the spell circle as well and explained further, "I have already used up a `Bishop´ piece, but I have another with me."

She then lowered the crystallized power back into Ashia´s small body. It disappeared in a small flash.

"This bishop´s power is to follow its family. I can use this girl´s restoration power as a `Bishop´. ... It´s unheard of, but I´ll try reincarnating this sister as a Devil." She explained their objective to him resolutely. She already was about to intone the ritualistic lines of the reincarnation and peerage ritual.

In that moment something stirred in the reality around them.

They saw, before them, an unknown entity being born from a shadow in the air.

The scene is happening on the interstice between this one and a world overlapping with it, but different. A black shadow ignored gravity as it floated there before them. No, the concept of gravity that governs the physical plane might not even exist here. In the first place, how much reiryoku does one need to surpass the spiritual gravitational attraction of Earth´s oversoul? Was that how the Soul King´s palace was kept far above the Soul Society? Such were the spirit´s thoughts while he saturated the surroundings with his reiatsu, careful to feed the Devils in front of him just enough to make Plus and a pale shadow of himself visible to them. Quite a feat for him! As that was more complicated for him than a millimetre exact sword strike due to his abysmal control over his own soul except in optimal conditions. On the other hand they were not Humans but Devils, the reiryoku to see him and Pluses was there, he just had to coax it out.

The world around them surged and twisted for a short time before settling down again after what appeared to be reality itself vomiting. The air twisted with gloomy black. A hole opened in each of the Devil´s sights from the distortion, and what looked like blue dust gushed out. Then came the church, then came their fellow Devils, then came the spell circle and the nun´s corpse only clad in a night gown. Then their breaths came back.

Everything was being turned inside out, for each of them with their own hole as the center. The other reality was slowly transformed into what they dubbed the real world.

Nothing much had changed compare to the dramatic occurrence itself, the only difference the addition of a sort of humanoid black shadow cloaked being floating just opposite of them behind Ashia´s peaceful corpse.

"Yo! Mind if I take some of your time? No in fact I don´t need you, just hold on for a moment. I was hanging around here ever since you went at the crow girl and ..."

`crow?´

He spoke with a powerful voice that somehow made their heads spin. As if his words, his existence was too much for them to understand, too foreign. Alien. But somehow the wielder of a red scaled gauntlet was unaffected by this when he heard these words.

"You were here?! And you watched it all happen?! Why! Why didn´t you save her?!" Issei cried in outrage. Clearly this something had the necessary power. Not only had he been able to be around them in the church undetected for this whole time, but if anything that it was able to root his comrades in place simply by his presence spoke volumes of his power.

"It´s not really my job to save the living from natural death. ..."

` _Asshole!_ ´ but before Issei could interject the spectre continued his defence, his power laden voice keeping him from speaking up.

"... It was your job, I was confident you would come in time... and you failed." That one burned.

"What was she anyway? Some renegade Tengu?"

No one knew what to answer him. Most of them were quite aware that the other mythologies existing among the humanity were quite real as well, though Issei due to never having gotten the info dump told to him was still clueless about that. So it was less that the being mistook the Fallen for an entity from Shinto that was surprising, but rather the casualness with which the being interfered in the conflicts of parties he did not know. That was strange ... frightening even.

The offhand remark however had Rias thinking; if a Tengu was the first creature this apparition would guess at, then the chances were great that he is native to Japan, which would make it either a deity from shintoism or some Youkai with a really freaky illusion power. Either way, there should be no problem, as the lands of Kuoh town had been bought from Nurarihyon centuries ago and Takamagahara never had a problem with Devils taking up residence among the Humans as long as they swore to safeguard the shrines in their area and not bother the worshippers. Should those two conditions not be met their retribution would be swift and deadly but Rias could proudly say she upheld both conditions splendidly.

"No, guess not. A Tengu would probably not hang around a bunch of catholics. ... Nor dress as she did. A Fallen Angel then? He... `dog of heaven´ fits both of them I guess. Hm, speak up." The shade continued to think aloud and then addressed Rias as if he had noticed her previous thoughts.

Not wanting to be further intimidated by the strange apparition, the Gremory heiress gathered her presence and will around her like an armour.

"I´m Rias Gremory, the land of Kuoh town are under my jurisdiction according to our deal with Nurarihyon nor did we broke any of the laws imposed upon us by Takamagahara. So, on which grounds are you interfering in our matters in my land?" Straightening and putting her left hand on her hip the young Devil seemed to have regained control of the unforeseen situation.

The shadow, what little they could see of him, did not seem impressed however.

"Don´t really care what kinda deal you have with the old dwarf, nor if Amaterasu is pissed at you. Whatever, I´m not here to bother you, the living aren´t my job..."

Here Akeno interrupted him him while someone else among the peerage gasped.

"You- are you a Reaper?" She asked him thinking of the European myths of the black cloaked Grim Reaper or of Thanatos, whom she had no idea how he looked but suspected to have a similar appearance. Rias on the other hand now had to throw out her theory of this shade being a Japanese entity, shinto belief did not really have a psychopomp like the Grim Reaper and she was positive the shade was neither Susanoo nor Izanami the major shinto gods associated with the afterlife of Yomi and death. `A foreigner then?"

"Yep, so don´t worry. While you lot are a collective pain in their arses my superiors would not let me interfere in your business, we have our laws after all. I´m not here for you ... but for her." He ends in a suddenly more somber tone and Issei does not even need to look at what a now outstretched black limb points at, he immediately realises his newfound hope is in danger of once again being squashed.

The other Devils also stir in realisation and noticing that the black limb is zooming in on Ashia´s corpse, Yuuto surges forward intending to launch himself against the envoy of the afterlife who threatens to take away the reason for their latest battle. He misses however. It was not because he misjudged the distance or somehow was tricked to run backwards how another Shinigami would have him do. It was just that first he shadow was there ...

... and then he wasn´t.

But was there.

He had relocated himself from the side of the nun opposite to the Devils, to behind the girls head.

Faster than Yuuto.

Faster than a possessor of the `Knight´ piece.

Faster than any of them had been able to see.

And Yuuto had to wonder if it had been faster than his teacher and fellow knight, Okita Souji.

And with his arm he held a pale girl all too known to the group of Devils, Ashia Argento, by the back of her dress.

It was only then that the reality dimmed on them slowly. For what the shadow held in his arms was too pale even for a corpse, no in the first place it was too flimsy and too transparent, and Humans don´t have a chain rattling around them. Nor are they suddenly at two places at once, for the corpse of the nun still rested peacefully on the floor.

"NOOOO!" Issei screamed in growing despair when realization hit him. The others too snapped around not understanding after all none of them had ever seen a ghost before. How come they did know. Rias and Akeno, more knowledgeable in matters of the arcane then did piece together that it wasn´t the Reaper that suddenly became visible, but them who were influence by the Grim Reaper to be able to see ghosts, just for this occasion.

"You! ..." Rias cut through Issei´s pleas to put Ashia´s body and soul back together.

"Did you do all this just to cause further heartache to my servant?! Today was already hard enough for him!"

Hearing the tone behind her words Issei shuddered. This was different from before when she dispatched Raynare. True rage was boiling within her.

"Yeah, ... I saw it all ya know, really tragic, the pervert was tricked by a girl and she then ridiculed all his efforts ... he clearly doesn´t read enough manga if this gets to him this much! ... I mean, it´s hypocritical for me to say this, but he knew that nun for how long? It´s not as if that the crow killed off his whole family. ... Though she DID cost him his humanity, I guess. ..."

The Reaper seemed not to care in the least though. Rias, no all of the Devils shifted, angry at the ridicule the formerly human body received from a probably century old psychopomp. Before they could think of any scathing remarks Ashia awakened from the shouts thrown around and asked what was going on and what caused her to dangle from some guy´s hand. Luckily for the Shinigami, who noticed her waking first, she was still too groggy from her recent death to have a drastic reaction to her new state.

"Good moment for you to regain consciousness. In short? You died and now we are haggling for your soul. Divine currency and all that, ya know?"

"Ashia?! Can you hear me? Talk to me, please!" Issei storms towards the two spirits, none of his fellow peerage stopping him as he crashes to the floor and tries to embrace Ashia, who the shadow had placed on the floor know. And yet, he simply slips through the ghost girl who had welcomed him with open arms, her body intangible. To see their faces was heart crushing.

"Please be serious here. Don´t feel anything seeing their suffering?" Rias again took the stage. When the Reaper next spoke she had to think how disconcerting it was that she still could not tell where he was facing.

"I do. How dare YOU insinuate otherwise? Had you and the black haired girl taken part in the assault from the beginning, her life may have been spared. But now she. is. dead! Both of them have to face this. You did not think this scenario would ever occur, did you? After all you always can bring them back to life with your ritual. But is the reason I showed myself. For you would have done so without ever asking her, at least tell her before bringing her back. No, tell both of them, for the boy has not been a Devil long either hasn´t he? On the other hand, you nun, should already know, right? ... Reincarnating as a Devil, that´s just like in the old stories where you sell your soul. Then think, the only thing that awaits you after your eventual death as a Devil is a stay in Jigoku."

...

Deafening silence followed this proclamation, until ...

"...What?..." It wasn´t just Issei and Ashia.

"Tsk!"

"You don´t believe me, huh? Well, you´re lucky, you left me with a way to demonstrate your fate."

After moving aside a bit he once again reaches out with his arm, this time horizontally and before the surprised eyes of the Devils the herald of death shows them another chain, just like the one wound around Ashia. He tugs, once, twice and then more forceful. What then suddenly burst into their field of vision was a mass of black, feathers and a transparent female body. Raynare, upon waking as a ghost quicker than Ashia as she had no body left to house her after her incineration had swiftly seen the black clothed form of Ichigo, she may even have realised who and what he is, for she had immediately began to run. But he had caught the chain dangling from the new Plus spirit. Thus making sure he could force her back any time of his choosing. The Substitute Shinigami looses not a moment to draw his Zanpatkou, nor does he care to explain himself to the Fallen Angel. He had seen what she did to Ashia for her own gain and even now he saw on her the taint that would condemn her to many horror filled incarnations in the pits of Jigoku until her soul was grinded to dust and finally purified of her heavy Karma. While she was still falling towards him, his single strike cuts her apart. A horrified and pained scream is unleashed from between Raynare´s wide opened lips, her face once again disfigured. Before in despair and fear, now in pain and horror. As if she could instinctually feel what awaited her.

Instead of the guts and blood which one could have expected to pour out of the wound, it was filled with light like a lightning strike. And that light gave birth to dread.

From out of nowhere, truly thin air, as if a invisible veil is slowly being lifted from in front of their eyes once again, to massive double gates appeared. Skeletons and rusted daggers adorn it, but they had no time to scrutinize it well because after a chain holding them shut snapped they quickly opened fully, sending out a wave of rotting miasma which blankets them them. From the open gate, a red haze visible behind it, something shots out and pierces through the still screaming Fallen Angel. Something like a giant harpoon spears her through and as the chain connected to the harpoon is yanked back violently from within the hellish realm Raynare´s soul vanishes into the depths of the foreign realm still screaming her blood curling screams.

"Watch. For this is the only afterlife for of all those tainting their souls. The gates you see lead to a Jigokudou only for those who are judged heretics and abominations compared to the standard human soul. This is the unavoidable fate awaiting all of you Devils. To be grinded into dust until you lose all the karma accumulated in your life. Girl, your decision? Do you wish to be reincarnated as a Devil and stay with your friend as a servant or do you wish to be reincarnated after a more peaceful afterlife in the realm of the dead?"

As the gates and Raynare´s soul vanish like a mirage before the transfixed eyes of the young Devils, his voice is mere background noise to them. What could they do but watch anyway?

...

It was silent for quite some time after the gates had faded. Until the girl which started it all and is the cause of the whole matter spoke up.

"Will I...Will I go to Heaven?"

"Heaven? ... Tell me girl, what have you done in your life that the pigeons of your god would care for you? How were you saintly enough to raise above the good deeds, or lack thereof, displayed by everyone else? What awaits you is the land of the dead and finally reincarnation. It´s not bad, nor good. Apparently in most cases it is better than life, you won´t ever hunger, feel cold and so on. If you´re unlucky you´re going to end up in some of the worse districts. If so make your way towards the center. That´s all I can tell you. ... The decision is yours to make, just how you´ll have to bear the consequences."

"If, if I am to be reincarnated as a Devil, ... will I be able to stay with Issei-san? Will I definitely fall into Hell? ... I don´t think that, that all Devils are evil!? Issei-san isn´t evil ..."

"Hn, true. Devils aren´t condemned to Jigoku because of their existence. And yeah, you can be with him until your death. Then you´ll be judged when someone like me will reap your soul. But being a Devil tempts one. It´s so easy to slip up. Good and evil aren´t the measuring means either. After all, what Humans would consider good or evil changes every few years."

"I understand And then ... and then, will we fall to the same place? Will we be together in Hell for eternity."

"That depends on your deeds, err, well Karma for the lack of a better word you´ll be able to understand. It won´t be forever, every `sin´ can be washed away with time. ... Oh, you Christians have that idea, don´t you?"

"Yes, ... oh, so it isn´t eternal?"

"No, but don´t get your hopes up. No matter how long your purification, it´ll be too long for you to understand. You´re going to become mad long before that and unable to count time."

"But, ... even as a Devil, there´s no guarantee I would fall, right? I wouldn´t do anything that goes against God´s teachings... and, and ..."

Once again he interrupts her stuttering.

"I´m positive that being a Devil is already against your god´s teachings. Not that those matter. The afterlife I would bring you to is for those whose soul is not claimed by those they worship. And you will fall, probably, after all you are far to innocent and naive a soul not to be tainted with depravity in this world. That you refuse reincarnation shows how you cling to your desires which will cause you to fall into depravity. Becoming a Devil won´t makes this easier."

"I, ... I have faith, ... faith that I won´t fall. And I want to stay with Issei-san, he is my first friend and ..."

"Hm, alright. Your choice. Then just lay down again in your corpse and wait till tomato Devil has finished your reincarnation as a Devil. Bye and live a good life."

"Sorry, Reaper-san..."

"No need to be sorry. I just wanted to give you this choice and not have the tomato hair dictate it for you. I shouldn´t have involved myself anyway and as I said before, your decision is your own. Goodbye, may we never meet again."

As he and Ashia´s soul begin to fade from the view of the gathered Devils, they hear another few words before they vanish.

"...And it´s not Reaper-san, man why do you call me that, it´s Ichigo."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **To all those complaining that at least Rias and Akeno should have been able to ward off the "petrification" caused by exposure to Ichigo´s reiatsu: Ichigo was able to exert captain class reiatsu in his shikai already before learning bankai. He certainly has the power to root even lieutenant level souls into place if he would just have the control to do so. As you read however this did not really happen, he did not exert much of his power, what he wanted to do is awaken their spiritual senses for the discussion. To describe the process I used model similar to a spiritual "third eye". It would be something that all beings with a strong soul possess, even humans if their soul is strong enough. So yes the Devils have the necessary senses to see spirits, otherwise they would have no magic. Because magic to me is the subconscious usage of the souls power, so naturally it is a still a long road to truly grasping hold of your soul´s power and wielding it. Because they are not really aware of their own souls power and only use that power via "backdoors" Ichigo had to awaken their dormant spiritual senses - he "opened the third eye" by rousing the sleeping spiritual power within Issei´s group. They clearly aren´t normally spiritual aware as in dxd canon ghosts can´t really be seen by the supernatural beings. supernatural =/= spiritual!**


	4. On the Interstice

**To my first reviewer: thanks a lot! and yes that´s the plan, I just don´t have the plot really worked out as I don´t want to follow canon too closely.**

* * *

 **Bleach and Noragami crossover**

 **Takes place just before Ichigo´s first year in middle school and is planned to be used as the first chapter of a story featuring Ichigo´s adventures among supernatural beings before meeting Rukia.**

* * *

 **On the Interstice**

It was the spring holiday of his last year in elementary school, 3 years after the fact he once again had followed the Karasu River upstream until where it separated from the Onose River and had pushed on further northwards following the river bank. It was long after the sun had been on its highest point, that he sunk down into the grass in exhaustion and just looked upwards counting the clouds in a fleeting moment of piece.

Then suddenly, "Hey! Flowers are growing there, so don´t step on them, will ya." a black haired boy a few years older than himself called out to him from the beaten earthen path further up and inland. In his arms he carried small shovels, a sack of gardening earth and the like and with surprise twelve year old Ichigo, now seeing the small buds creeping from the soil, realised he seemed to have stepped into another's hobby gardening field.

He just hoped that the other would not give him problems because he thought, due to his hair, that some punk was consciously trying to destroy his work. But looking up to the other boy by craning his neck as he was still lying down, there really was no malice on his face. Instead, Ichigo could only see an almost detached face in his inverted view.

* * *

"You sure are focused when gardening." Ichigo commented on the other boy´s, who called introduced himself as Suzuha, happiness and concentration while checking up on the flower seeds he had planted on the riverside. Having seen his exhausted state, Suzuha had offered him a bottle of water from his own provisions and for that he was grateful enough to assist the him a bit.

"Yeah, you could say that. I have quite a big family at home so there is always something going on. This is just calming usual routine to me."

 _`In more sense than one´_ was left unsaid, as indeed the changes of the seasons and the growth of the plants stayed always the same. Year for year. For someone like Suzuha, who had no other means to experience the passing of the years, it was reassuring. And on the other hand, plants were always ready there to receive his attention. Unlike his own busy master.

"The smaller shovel, please." Absentmindedly Ichigo tosses it over to him, for a moment forgetting he was not hanging out with Tatsuki and her crazy martial arts skills. He already wanted to shout out at Suzuha, who wasn´t even really looking at him, to dodge it when to his surprise the boy easily catches it out of the air.

Feeling especially smug for once he steered the slow conversation into a whole together other direction. "Nice catch." He faked to remark cleverly. "So what are ya? You aren´t a normal ghost after all, being able to touch things and carrying food around."

Suzuha, astounded, quickly looks up. That Ichigo had wanted to fake that he had thrown the shovel as a test of his humanity was totally lost on him who did not had much contact with Humans in the past he could remember. "Eh?! Wait, wait! Run that by me again. How did you figure out I´m not human? "

Aggravated that his plot did not work out and taking it as a sign he sucked at schemes, Ichigo replied sullenly. "T´was just a feeling."

"You asked someone if they´re not a Human just because of a feeling. What if you were wrong or something?" Suzuha speaks up surprised at the human child's easygoingness.

"I´m not from around here anyway. Who cares if you would think I´m crazy? But I´m right, aren´t ...?" It was only then, as he focused more on the Human who would only be a fleeting acquaintance at best, that Suzuha for the first time realised that he had not seen the other with an expression on his face that was not a frown. No smile, no show of surprise at the sight of someone who, as an apparent middle school student, would spend his free time on the riverbank tending to a flowerbed or who he thought was not even human.

But his surprise at that was quickly overshadowed. Before the orange headed boy could answer that query, he already had continued. "And you can really see ghosts?! Wow, to not only be able to see those on the interstice like me but also the souls of the deceased, man that makes you a full blown spirit medium! That´s so cool!"

"Geez, thanks but no thanks. It´s hardly a blessing to see all of the dead run around and hear their complaints and wishes."

"Oi! That´s not nice towards us, it´s not like we chose to die."

"Huh? ... You´d be surprised at how many suicide ghosts I´ve met. Also, you aren´t a ghost, right? I still have sometimes problems to see the differences between ghosts and the living, but you have no chain nor wounds from your death."

"Chain and wounds? ... You must live in a quite spiritually rich area then. Most souls just manifest as small hitodama."

"Hitodama? You mean those blue fire like balls, wisps, whatever? I´ve never seen those at home. It´s only after I went further away I saw some."

"Humph. Then you must live on a land very rich in spiritual power. As I said before, in most places, most of the souls of the deceased don´t have the necessary spirit power to maintain themselves in a humanoid form after death. They just float around as half-brainless wisps made of light and looking just like a cartoonish cloud or snowflake . Well a ball, or well pretty much just like folklore shows them. They don´t have much of a consciousness, just drifting or sometimes attaching themselves to stronger spirits or people and places they were familiar to in life.

To have such a clear spiritual sight, to even see the cause of death and the chain, others told me it´s their broken link to their human body. You are probably the strongest medium I´ve ever heard off. I can´t fee such things, but you must have more spiritual power than me! And I´m a Shinki!" and added to himself "How have you been eaten yet?" in deep surprise before becoming aware how mean that sounded. "Eh-hehe, sorry."

"How nice of you. Anyway don´t. It actually brings me to why I´m so far from home. But first, spill it, what´s a Shinki?" Ichigo interrupted the other boys nervous apologies.

"Oh, we´re ghosts who were given a new name and position in service to the god who named us."

"Huuuh...?" For a moment Ichigo was simply stumped. Seeing this Suzuha inclined his head to the side as if questioning why he did not continue. "...Ahhhh, ok, ok." Ichigo lets the words fall from his tongue as if it was laden with lead, totally not believing the self declared regalia of a god.

"No really! It´s the truth! Hoi, believe me!" Quickly discarding his dirty gloves, Suzuha pulled up his right sleeve to proudly show Ichigo his posthumous name written there.

The look he received in return was so flat and dry like the Sahara. "Woooonderful." Ichigo mocked him. "...Great tattoo, though you actually don´t look like someone who would do something like that. Were you´re parents okay with this?" Seeing the equally not amused stare from his source of information the semi delinquent from Karakura relented. " Oh come on. I´ve seen ghosts my whole life, but I´ve never even heard from then or ever seen a god."

Suzuha naturally knew that even Humans with the sight hardly ever would see a deity, but he also realised that that particular argument would convince nobody. However, after a moment of burying himself into his thoughts and knowledge, he came up with something. "Ha!" He victoriously pointed at the taller child from out of town. "You´ve said yourself that you have problems distinguishing us from living Humans, right?! You could have encountered a god and never realised it. Hehe." He smugly rubbed his nose, not thinking about how he smeared earth across his face with that gesture.

"Bullcrap!" Ichigo quickly countered quite loudly. "How could one not recognize a god? At the very least they should look the part! Clothes like in the shrines and all."

"Meh, you´d be surprised. Actually most of them look quite like normal Humans. Especially if you don´t look too closely. Well, most of them have very good looks, but it´s nothing mind boggling. You know, the recess of worship hit them pretty hard." He explained and elaborated quickly, before motioning Ichigo to come with him as he was finished tending to the sunflowers.

Pensive for a time, Ichigo followed the unhuman boy walking towards another spot. They crossed some high reeds and around the bend of the river the land suddenly became more flat and even forested. "Come to think of it." He began to rekindle the discussion, while helping with untying the knots in a cord, which held up some coverage around the trunk of a lone tree. "...I´ve never seen any god´s shrine in Karakura."

"What?" Suzuha peeks around the tree trunk surprised. "...How´s that possible. This is Japan, every town has some little shrines somewhere. If there´s no god in the area then who would take care of the Mononoke?"

Somehow even more angry than usual at being told he doesn´t know his own hometown as good as he claims, a sentiment clearly shown in his deepening frown, Ichigo bit back. "I´ve lived there my whole life. There isn´t a single shrine. Even when we went to the New Year´s festivals we went to Naruki City´s temple ... and what´s a Mononoke? Ya seriously telling me monsters exist too?" He added after a moment. Then looked curiously at the tree when the cover fell from its trunk. One of its sides was badly damaged, a great hollow was visible where seemed to have been ripped out, further up a large branch was missing. "How did it get like this?" He asked, missing the scratch marks on the other side due to being more interested in the obvious damage.

"A typhoon several years ago. Afterwards the tree fell sick and I´ve been looking after it ever since. ... Time sure flies by." Suzuha told him. He then jumped back to the previous topic. "No shrines eh? Well my god only ever exists her domain from her shrines so if there really are no shrines in your hometown ... I would guess other gods act just the same, then gods should at most pass through or something..." The black haired boy drifted off with his thoughts looking into the hollow and noting that he´ll have to bring some moss from Kugaha and sawdust for it. "On the other hand, it´s strange then that you would not know of the Mononoke. Without a god around to purify them they should creep around a lot. I mean not the whole place could be only sunshine and roses, right?"

Now more interested a lot into the his words Ichigo replied curiously. "You mean they are attracted to sadness?"

Suzuha let himself fall down to sit on the earth before looking up at his tree and only then answered. "Sadness, ... fear, ... anger and grief. All of the negative emotions. They feed on them and in turn nurture them, trying to possess the living they swarm around places that are like feeding grounds to them. Evil inducing evil spirits basically. Blessings or curses, two sides of the same coin."

"Oh joy! Well ... don´t know about the other places, but Karakura South Primary School is definitely Hell on Earth. Never seen anything apart from run of the mill ghosts before there."

"Haha." Suzuha laughed somewhat feebly at the attempted joke, to him who would never be able to go to school anymore behaviour like that was simply ungrateful. "...Don´t know how that could be possible without a powerful god around, perhaps there´s some kind of large area protection, a barrier or automatic purification system? No clue." Somehow Ichigo, thick-headed as he normally was, picked up on Suzuha´s sudden rancour, or he may have seen similar cases with the ghost children native to Karakura?

"If you don´t find it funny then just say so." He bluntly told Suzuha, who was speechless at the uncourteous words. "Ah, well you probably already heard something like that from ghosts, but for those cannot go to school ... to say such things."

"Anyway,..." Ichigo then took suddenly control of the conversation. "...Are Mononoke perhaps some kind of heavy dark fog with teeth?"

"Huh? Yeah, in the early stages at least. Think of them as malice given material form. They start out as small amounts of formless energy until they congregate and grow into vicious monsters. Just think of all the Youkai, Ayakashi and such from folk tales. Quite a large amount of them is at least partially true..." Remembering then how he was initially surprised that the orange haired boy knew how to describe them he added. "...How do you know that though?"

"Hm? Saw some whenever I come to the borders of Karakura. There´s often some dark cloud or some smudges gathering around me then. And then there´s the thing that´s back there." Already startled by the first part, Suzuha was slow to react to the last part. As Ichigo´s words dawned on him he quickly turned around towards where the boy´s outstretched finger drew his gaze to. His dark eyes opened in fright and surprise for indeed there were several small Mononoke hidden among the grass. They were small abominations, no more than slimes but among them was a larger fish like being with 4 humanoid legs too. There was little risk of them overpowering and eating him but fearing the blight and becoming impure, Suzuha understandingly recoiled when their low toned mutterings reached his ears.

"... smells good..."

"... smells good..."

"... smells goooood..."

"... smells good..."

"Some divine tool you are." Ichigo´s half hearted muttering was the only warning the Shinki got before the human boy rushed past him. The somehow rough yet lazy aura of the Human had suddenly changed drastically. Gone was all the softness and it was with mixed feelings of horror and awe that Suzuha watched how Ichigo stormed forward, spraying earth at them, probably to take their sight, and then jumped forward landing with a vicious kick on the dog sized fish, easily trampling it underfoot. Even though he was hardly a martial regalia, and lived quite a peaceful life, Suzuha could what happened before him not call a battle. Watching Ichigo stomp the smaller things out of existence somehow was more like them plucking the weed around the flowers before. Soon he was nearly finished, seeing the last critter around Ichigo plucked it up and held it close for examination.

"So that ´s a Mononoke?" He questioned the spirit boy. "Yeah, ..." That one answered tight lipped. "... quite small ones but still, thanks for getting rid of them." At Ichigo´s questioning look, a single eyebrow somehow wandering into the region occupied by his scowl, he elaborated with a shrug. "When coming in contact with them there´s a possibility that Shinki get blighted, it looks like a rash I guess, and is quite painful to us."

"Why´re you then going around alone like that?" Ichigo asked not understanding.

"Well, normally they don´t just appear while the sun´s up. It should have been safe." Suzuha informed him while still reeling how a living Human had curb stomped a group of lesser, yes, but still Impurities. Finally he chalked it up to his evidently humongous spirit power.

"Sorry about that then."

"Huh?" Once again black eyes widen in surprise as he did not understand what the other apologized for.

"I told you already that those damned pests often gather around me. And you said it yourself they feed off a Human´s dark emotions, right?"

"...Are you seriously implying they gathered here just for you?! Sure you have the spiritual power to attract them but ... what kind of grudge or something are you carrying around that would have them after you?"

"Revenge." He stated with vehemence stunning his talking partner. "And concerning that I have a question for you. Do you now a girl? A bit smaller than us, black hair in a neat bowl cut, pale, perhaps wearing a black shirt and skirt under some sort of knee long pink cape with black dots on the collar and hem?" Suzuha suddenly realized why the other had been interested in Shinki, Mononoke and the like, spiritual beings, invisible to regular Humans yet able to touch them. "I last saw her along the Karasu River down south." Ichigo added and the look he threw the regalia was both pleading and somehow scary at the same time.

Still, compared to the near instinctive fear the Mononoke from before had instilled in him a glare from a flesh and blood Human, as intense as it may be had limited effect on Suzuha.

"No, I haven´t sorry. Sure there are some Shinki among my gods household that would fit the description of a girl with straight black hair but I´m not aware that any would own a pink raincoat. Why? Just what did that girl do to you?"

"Doesn´t matter to you." Ichigo brusquely denies any answers and turns around. "Come, you still need to patch up your tree again." The two then do exactly that, though a tense silence settles over them just like the gloom, both immersed in their thoughts.

It was Suzuha who finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "Revenge never is any good, y´know." He said feebly and solemnly, hoping to deter his probably one time acquaintance from a dark path leading only towards misery for most.

To his surprise Ichigo took these words quite well at first. "Maybe. But it´s the only thing I CAN still do." More harshly he then continued. "...I have to defeat it!..." He nearly spat with surprising venom. "Only I can do so and I´m responsible for it all in the first place." A sudden *Thunk* startles the plant loving Shinki. Ichigo had just violently hit the tree on his side of it after retying the knots holding the coverage, and some blood trickled down from the fist across the bark. The boy was now hunched over, holding himself up on the tree between them. "... So that none of my family have to die protecting me again." He finished snarling.

"I see, who of your family died then?"

"None of your damned business!" Ichigo bit back in a way that somehow concluded the topic between them. "...And don´t come to me with those old man wisdoms, some things simply need to be done so those left behind can continue on..." He paused suddenly and Suzuha looked at him questioningly as it was obvious he still had wanted to say something. Finally he spoke again. "...Wait a minute. You said before you´re already dead, right? So how long was that ago?"

That was unexpected. "Well I don´t see how that´s any of your business Mr. insensitive, ..." "Oh come on, you´re dead." Ichigo muttered in between. "... but okay. I´ll have to tell you however that I don´t really remember. Quite some time over thirty years ago though." He pushed his chest out a bit, for some reason proud of himself.

"Ha! You´re already an old man, aren´t ya?"

"What!? That´s your reaction upon hearing of my immortality!"

"Old age isn´t immortality." Ichigo flatly denied his boast. "... forty years at least, huh, your right up there with goat chin. My condolences."

"You little!"

"Hahaha! You even curse like an old man!"

* * *

It was getting late and Suzuha already realised that any time Ichigo would spent with him was over. Nor would he come over again probably. The Human would forget, like so many others before him and even more after him. Morosely he looked over to where Ichigo was packing up his gardening tools. A sudden thought struck him and against his better judgement he could not help but give voice to it.

"You´re lonely aren´t you?"

Ichigo freezes in his movements, but he, almost jokingly, replies back at him quickly.

"Huh, I´m not stupid, I have a family and friends, ya´know?" Having said that he missed or ignored how Suzuha flinched. Not willing to give up his point so easily, the other insisted. "But ... do they have the sight?"

At that Ichigo could only look away before more meekly answering the query. "One of my sisters can see somewhat."

And with that the serious atmosphere had run itself out, slowly dissipating.

* * *

He already had turned to walk away southward again when he turned back one last time.

"So, I´ve never asked. Whose god regalia are ya anyway?"

"Hehe, hear and be astounded..." Suzuha began with a stupid grin plastered on his face. "...Not to brag, but ..." "Too late for that." Ichigo dryly interjected. "...I serve a super major god! One of the seven deities of good luck, Bishamonten-sama himself!" He finished still grinning as stupidly as he when he had begun and since he valued the boy actually believing him he conveniently left out that for some reason the war gods incarnation were female most of the time.

"Ahhhhh... yeah. Right." For the first time Ichigo´s scowl seemed to slip.

"Heyyy, what´s with that reaction?! It´s true! I swear, believe me! Look!" He then frantically takes of his working gloves and pulls up his right sleeve, where Ichigo sees a black character on his skin, though he did not understand how that was proof for anything and so the already internalized scowl he started to have since some years slipped into place again.

"Whatever, ..." He turns back again and calls out over his shoulder. "... Thanks for the info and good luck with your tree. Well, with Bishamonten as your personal god I guess you won´t need any additional luck, heh?" He attempted another not so funny joke. "I´m going to try to come by some time again. Sayonara then, Sukuna!"

"What? ... It´s Suzuha you fool! You can´t have forgotten already forgotten about me?!" The misnamed Shinki called after the Ichigo´s retreating back.

"Tch, I´m just bad with names. You´re the first Shinki I´ve ever met, how would I ever forget you. That´s like ... I don´t know...?" The strange orange haired boy called over his shoulder before he vanished up the riverbank leaving Suzuha alone among his sprouting flowers.

They would never meet again.


	5. Sword of Fate

Continuation from "Hell´s gates are always open for Devils" - enjoy!

* * *

 **Sword of Fate**

* * *

After the matter of Ashia´s reincarnation and the Plus souls of the exorcists inside the church had been dealt with, Ichigo still had to venture out and finish his job as a substitute soul reaper.

The corpses in the church, and the number of souls he had reaped within and its outmost vicinity just did not add up. Thus he stretched out his search radius and picks off the Pluses of the renegade exorcists one after another. While doing so he also stumbles across a winged one. The older man´s Plus who they belonged stumbled towards the church from the woods behind it. Seeing the pair of pitch black wings from high up in the air reminded him of the three feathers the head Devil had shown the BDSM Fallen as proof that her reinforcements had already been killed.

"Tch! A few days as a Devil, and a regular kid suddenly finds it awesome that the lives of three people are snuffed out?"

He spit out through gnashed teeth, pondering the corrupting effect of devildom, the whole business and how casually people were killed still rattling him. Sure his first encounter with Byakuya and was hardly different, however during his whole incursion into their place not as many people had died as tonight. And for what? Power, and not even some big ass `I can change the world´ power but rather the measly ability to heal some scratches! Seriously?! Inoue could do far better, and once he had thought so he mentally noted down to check on his friend and take care that those shit-for-brains crows would never hear of her.

He was then torn from his inner rant about the world by a red flash of light from the ruins of the church, probably the Devils leaving with the help of some form of flashy transportation. He swooped down and landed some steps in front of the middle-aged looking man. The Plus wore a grey trenchcoat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes and all of them were ruined just as much as the spirit himself.

 _`Wow!´_ He thought with newfound respect. _`After walking through Byakuya´s release people don´t look that ... destroyed.´_

And indeed the former Fallen looked as if half his atoms were simply lacking, the spirit only holding himself together by the strands of the figure of speech. Looking like that, having lost all hope he would probably pass on by himself once he saw the fate of his comrades in the church and internalizing his own death. Who knows what kind of insane belief he was holding onto to keep him on his legs, perhaps he was hoping that the crystallized ability of the blond girl could heal him even from death? If he even already had realized his death.

* * *

Dohnaseek was slowly but surely coming to terms with his death. Not that it did feel him easy to do so! But the proofs just were stacking on top of each other. When he had woken up after the Gremory clan´s heiress attack he had already been on the way to the church, somehow he had felt too weak to fly and also was walking like one would without shoes on glowing coals, more wobbling than walking and having bursts of pain each time he put weight on his leg. That and sometimes his eyes played tricks on him and he thought himself kind of see through. But all would turn out well for him, Kalawarner and Mittelt probably left him behind, either not caring, injured just as him or thinking him dead. Either way, once Lady Raynare had the Sacred Gear of the nun she would be able to save them and with that in their possession he would be able to fight without regard for injuries, with absolute abandon.

If there just wouldn´t be that tiny but growing voice in his head telling him that he shouldn´t delude himself. That even with Twilight Healing the power of the Gremory heiress and her sadistic Queen would be able to kill her before she could heal herself. He dismissed it as Raynare would not figt alone, there were countless exorcists in the church with her and the numbers of a Devil´s peerage were quite limited. Hearing rattling like that of a steel chain around him with each step was kind of unsettling however. Seeing a massive black shape suddenly descend in front of him did nothing to preserve his nerves either.

"Wah!"

The Plus tumbled backwards out of the immediate reach of whatever just set foot on the pavement without making a sound. Something settled on his shoulders and his stature shrank even more.

* * *

Ichigo looked down on the Fallen´s Plus. Eyes full of suppressed rage, sorrow, pity, disdain, and many other emotions he did not care to catalogue right now. Idly he noted that even though the other was probably taller than him, it was him that was now looked down upon.

In the end, what brought them all low was death.

He knew he shouldn´t, and that it did not matter either way. What awaited the other were far greater pains. Nonetheless he punched him once in the face for good measure.

* * *

Did you ever get your face punched so hard it caved in? Dohnaseek hadn´t until know that is. It was quite a novel experience to him, one he could have done without however. The black thing that had landed in front of him had just started to form into a Japanese or at least Asian teen with orange hair of all things possible - at least better than crimson red! - clothed in some traditional clothing, not unlike the miko garments Gremory´s Queen had worn just a deep nightmarish black and bone white underneath. Another one of the Devil bitch´s slaves then probably. He had just called on his light spear when the punch had impacted. After he crumbled onto the pavement and nursed his bleeding face, with astonishment not befitting the situation he wondered why his teeth were dematerializing shortly after hitting the asphalt. The sudden drain he had felt calling on his weapon was forgotten due to more pressing concerns and light spear itself laid forgotten and once not on his mind anymore winked from existence.

"What´s your name, you scum!"

The words washed over him as he could feel them with other senses than just hearing, again he noticed unnatural weight pressing down on him and the words reverberated within his head that it threatened to burst. Even if he would have wanted to, he couldn´t refuse answering.

"Dohnaseek of the Fallen Angels."

He stuttered out through broken teeth and cracked lips, somewhere in the back of his head he wonders that he is not drowning from the coagulating blood in his throat. His vision, which had just began to clear, was now useless once again, from pain, from shame and despair. The same being that had caused him to lose it also brought his vision back again when he spoke next.

"You and your comrades fought some red haired devil girl, right? Where was that?"

His ears ached from the powerful voice and his head soon followed. The words commanding him to remember roused several voices within his brain, one whispered to him that he´s dead, another that he was alive and had to fight, another that he was just dreaming all this shit up, another that talked in some incoherent ramblings he did not decipher, another and another...

"In the woods ... should be right behind me..."

Dohnaseek mumbled out while working himself into a standing position.

"...and you? ... who are you?" He inquires in-between trying to regain a measure of control over his breathing. Somehow he felt like he would suffocate.

"Your Reaper."

The last things he consciously perceived was that the orange haired Reaper half turning away from him, something happened and then there were greedy hands yanking him backwards and he lost himself in the pain until he knew no more.

* * *

Following the Dohnaseek´s fading spirit imprints on the ground Ichigo traces the older man´s steps back into the forest and to the clearing where the Fallen and Devils had faced each other.

There he finds 3 husks. He doesn´t even know how to describe the state they were in. The smallest body had seemed to have taken the brunt of the attack. Nothing but its bones remained, and those would be unnaturally fragile to the touch. The body furthest away from the two others and just before him who had come from the church was also nothing more than crunchy bones. This one, he guessed, had belonged to Dohnaseek. Miraculously a black fedora somehow had survived the massacre without damage and now hung within one of the surrounding trees, its branches holding it in place as if on a wardrobe´s hook. The third body, while still visibly female was only in slightly better shape. Probably because having being partly been shielded behind the first. The miasmic stench of the red haired girl´s magic still hung in the air, but he also noticed other patches of burned leaves and grass. The residue of ozone had him guess that someone had thrown around lightning.

He spent some time searching the surroundings for the Fallen´s souls. Who knows, they could have hidden behind some bushes and if it somehow came to know he missed them, then that four-eyes Ishida would never ever live it down how he could not have sensed them in the first place. He had no luck in finding the two however. Vaguely he remembered something that Rukia had once explained to him back in the day when that idiot Kon had high-jacked his body.

 _`Boy that feels like eons ago.´_

Thus he returned to their carcasses with the suspicion that perhaps their souls were still clinging to them not accepting their pre-natural demise. The smallest corpse simply did not have the mass anymore to hide her soul from his eyes, so he quickly dismissed it, deciding to widen his search radius, and moved onto the last of them. The woman´s corpse was perhaps just as tall as him in life, but the corroding power of the young Devil had taken several centimeters from her in death and completely destroyed any hair she might have had. Placing a hand on her mangled flesh and bits of remaining cloth, he recognized that his suspicions were indeed spot on. Either consciously or not, her soul had still not left her corpse behind, with that the chance of her accepting her brutal death and ascending to whatever afterlife awaited her, he had his suspicions there too though, were less than zero. In a way he and she as well were lucky. Most of the time, cases like her ended up as drifting Pluses and were only found by a passing by Shinigami by chance as normally no Reaper would be in the place of the living´s death so soon after the fact. Would he have come by some hours later he would have had to check each of the Humans and Fallen Angels bodies one after another if their souls were still hiding within. Naturally most Shinigami did not take the time to do so and simply performed Konso on every wandering soul they could already see. Even if they noticed that the numbers of Pluses and corpses did not add up, that is if not some other random Plus had already wandered into the area to greet his new comrades in their unlife, they would hardly take the time to check each corpse if there was a chance that the soul had already moved on by itself. Thus, in that way he was lucky. In others not so much.

Not really knowing how to do so more gently, he blamed Rukia´s ever rough treatment for that, he shoved her unconscious soul out of its corpse. The Plus came to rest just to the left of her corpse, like a strange picture of decay and life. He was already all psyched up to perform her last rites, blade raised and ready to swing down, when he noticed the Inga no Kusari´s end still stuck somewhere in the flesh of the dead body. Not knowing what would happen if part of her chain was still connected to her corpse, he was blaming lack of adequate education from Rukia and lacking experience for that one, nor wanting to experiment with it, he quickly decided to pull out the whole length of it.

It did not take long for him to amass a considerable amount of chain at his feet at the rate he was pulling it out, but the lack of any end in sight troubled him and his mood just plummeted further and further. It really was looking like he would not get any much needed sleep tonight and that had consequences on his frown. Finally grim reality dawned on him, and after nearly tearing out some of his orange bangs he realises that the woman was different, that even now with this terrible injury - she was still clinging to life.

* * *

Quickly he stuffed the soul back into her corpse - now once again a body. Since in his panic he forgot to put the Inga no Kusari back first, he so knew he´d get an earful for this, the soul did not really meld back into the body properly at first. Because of that he had to twist and press it into it. Finally finished, he collapsed and absentmindedly sat on the blackened grass. Only when his hand came into contact with it, did he notice that its colour was not a remnant of the fight, but rather of the body beside him. Blood, bits of flesh and cloth, all had mingled and settled around the body from which it came from. He sat down on that, and considering the night he had he did just not care anymore. Over time, his Shihakushou would clean itself anyway. With dread he remembered the moments when he had to adjust the position of her mouth and press down on chest, which he failed to ignore due to having had both mounds of spiritual flesh within his hands was quite voluptuous and was up there with Matsumoto Rangiku´s even eclipsing Inoue´s. All that mortification just because the damned chain was getting in the way! To his absolute horror once her upper body had fit, her fucking - bad choice of words - hips suddenly ghosted out of her wounded body and he had to phase his hand into her body to adjust the position of the chain, which was still overly long from when he had pulled it out thinking her dead, which had pressed her partly out again.

In hindsight, he thought to himself, he should have known with a single look that she was still alive. All the dead Plus bore their cause of death visibly on their spectral bodies. Sometimes even cords with which they had hanged themselves, knives and such with which they were murdered. Only deaths that would not show any traces on the corpses either, like some poisons or cardiac arrest would not be seen on the Plus. That the female Fallen´s soul was without blemish should have tipped him off. He guessed he was still miffed/frustrated whatever, by what had happened in the church. The whole situation as a whole was simply getting to him.

It was to that picture, of the young Shinigami kneeling beside her with his head buried in his hands deep in thought and at the same time still blushing from mortification due to how he had to handle her body, that Kalawarner awoke. Her scream, born from the shock of her physical body and spiritual body fusing back together, tore through the night and had Ichigo jumping away in sudden surprise. For it was the pain from that process that had roused her and had opened her up to the pain of her magic wrecked body all over again.

Riddled with pain she convulsed violently, cramping legs shook and tears burst forth from burned away eyelids. To then stream down over blistering and torn cheeks. Still startled by her sudden awakening, Ichigo leaned over her asking if he could do something for her. Originally he had rather thought that the Fallen would use some of her magic to quickly heal, on the other hand, or rather in hindsight again, if they could heal that easily from something like this they would have no need to go after some girl´s power which does just that. Receiving no response he figured that as near to death as she was, she still could not perceive him. Concerned by her spasms he turned her onto her side and held her down as gently as possible in the situation, less she would choke on her own vomit, blood or saliva, though he figured not much would pass through the molten flesh of her throat anyway, nor injure herself further in her wild thrashing. Fallen Angel who had ruined some kids, well no, probably two and more people´s lives she may be. But he couldn´t bring it over himself to let her perish in agony while in arms reach from him.

This went probably on for some minutes, during which Ichigo continuously cursed himself for not taking the woman to help sooner as well as the fact that he had abysmal control over his reiatsu nor the necessary knowledge of healing Kidou. Three facts perhaps keeping the woman from surviving and him helping her.

With a shaky hand he reached into the inner pockets of his kosode, wondering not for the first time what kind of Shinigami magic allowed them to store insane amounts of gear within the shadows of their clothes without signs of that on the outside. With a fumbling finger he went through his contacts, searching for help while cradling the woman under his other arm. Yoruichi was out, the werecat was investigating something or another all the way over in Russia. If she was in her cat form, she would not carry a phone around with her anyways and otherwise there was always the risk her presence would be given away because he called her out of the blue. Inoue would never reach him in time. His father and whoever else he knew in the Soul Society would probably either sleep right now or simply tell him not to concern himself with the fate of some "damned crow". Both options not very helpful to him, as he refused to let someone die like this if he could help it, no matter how much she might have deserved her fate. Confident that no one else willing to help him would reach her in time he decided to bother Hat´nd´Clogs, the git still owning him anyway. Either he or Tessai could save the black angel. It was full three minutes later, that Ichigo had to face that Tessai was probably asleep just like every other normal person not charged with stalking through the night at this ungodly hour and that Urahara, if awake was obviously confined to lab. Worst case scenario there was actually an attack on Karakura - no he would have been notified, he hoped...

By now he felt like screaming in frustration. He had gotten his hands on all this power. Enough power to make him recognized by the strongest of the Soul Society, spirits centuries to millennia older than him. And yet he was still powerless to reach out a helping hand to the single soul in front of him.

If he asked Ishida to carry Inoue would they make it in time? His thoughts and budding plans were put to a sudden stop when his badge sprung to life and its obnoxious warning tone signalled him that a Hollow was tearing apart the boundaries between planes. Hearing the warning, he cursed vehemently, the miasma left behind by the magic used in the vicinity still clouded his senses even more than they were normally. Thus he could not even say if the Hollow was perhaps after the soul in his arms or had another prey altogether. Like for example that other Fallen that he had yet to find. Suddenly, the words his father had spoken to him when they had parted in the Seireitei were seen in a new light by him. He too was forced to make a decision and live with it. Shakily he put the Fallen onto her back.

* * *

Standing up he made up his mind, no matter the consequences , he would deal with those at a later date and weather them. As gently as possible he stepped onto her arms, pinning them down in place with his weight. As a supernatural being she should have a soul sufficiently strong enough to not be destroyed in the act. Almost like in a ceremony, he slowly positioned the blade of his Zanpatkou above her. He waited until the end of a spasm and then drove Zangetsu down, phasing through corroded flesh he went through her chest and then hit her Saketsu and Hakusui with uncanny precision, flooding them with his reiryoku. He thought himself lucky, for he had found it hard to hit those two soul organs with her breasts changing her proportions when compared to him.

The following tornado of reiatsu was probably felt by all spiritual aware people in the city, that is if there were any. He was sure however that the 12th would have picked up on it and would soon begin inquiring about it. The thrice damned Hollow however at least should have been sent running ... hopefully.

 _`At least the magic residue has been blown away.´_

He thought while raising his fist to psych himself up in self congratulation on having managed what Rukia had described as a risky beyond foolish manoeuvre. The Fallen was saved, alive at least. Her state was now stabilised, the additional reiryoku he had imparted into her had put her own healing factor into overdrive and her physical body, pushed by her overflowing spirit, was now slowly regenerating itself.

He did not know if her empowered state would be permanent, Rukia at least had made it sound as if his powers should have flowed back to her with time. Instead he had "eaten" them, for lack of a better word, and added them to his own. Until eventually Byakuya had amputated them from him with his "Senka" technique. But all that had happened with the assumption that he was but a normal Human, spiritually powerful - yes, but still a Human. Thus he now had no idea what kind of consequences this process would have with another supernatural species such as a Fallen Angel of all things unholy. Heck, he wasn´t even sure that it would not kill her instantly or that she wouldn´t swallow his powers whole like he did Rukia´s. Though he had looked out for that and had been willing to stop the process if it came to that. Luckily it didn´t. His own wellspring of power was normal as far as he could tell, at least he felt unchanged and only slightly winded. No matter, he had taken his chances and would live with the results.

No matter what may come from them.

* * *

The first delicious gasp of fresh air after nearly drowning, such were Kalawarner´s first moments after awakening. A last time her body convulsed, this time in jubilation from living and overflowing vigor. The Fallen had regained consciousness beneath him, still diluted eyes were scanning the world around her frantically and her back arched form time to time as she was unsure of being able to breathe.

"Yo! Back among the living again?" He asked her while making sure to meet her eyes. He was truly glad that his risk had paid off, any grief he previously had with her and her people was forgotten for the moment.

Seeing her confused looks he continued fearing that her spiritual senses could be still clouded by her magic.

"So, can you see ..."

He did not get to finish however. At a speed that belied the sorry state of her body, she had pulled her legs from between his legs towards her chest, the following kick that landed on his solar plexus and drove the breath out of his lungs. He was knocked backwards and toppling to the ground in surprise. Still while falling, he saw out of the corners of his eyes how she tried to stand up and run away. Failing that, with comically flailing around her semi healed arms, she crawled away so quickly that she could have won an Olympic medal in that discipline. He wasn´t really all that surprised, he knew from personal experience that an overflowing reiatsu was ... incomparable to the greatest of adrenaline kicks. If anything, he was surprised she had retreated, as people often felt invulnerable in such a state.

Still winded from gifting her a part of his reiryoku, and her vicious kick, he nonetheless willed himself up with righteous anger.

"You bitch!" He roared pointing a shacking finger at her still visibly confused form. "...What got into you kicking me like that after I saved your sorry, feathery ass?!"

Conveniently forgetting how he had once reacted to the giant form of Tessai on top of him when he woke up.

* * *

The tall woman however did not answer him. Instead she twisted around and he felt the putrid aura of magic erupt from her like looking at cancer cells or the smell of rotting food. White golden light erupts from her hands, forming a bolt of light. Its light was growing ever more intense, but she did not register that as she immediately flings at him. Really having no interest in having to throttle the power spilling out from the hasty attack he received it with unusual for him technique and grace. Quickly slipping into a stance, he caught the thrown spear in a grip not unlike the _Shinken Shirahadori_ move taught in kenjutsu and other martial arts to catch swords. Immediately after feeling the hum of power between his palms, he makes a 180° turnaround, to not have to work against the spears force, and with a show of force he threw the offending attack above the tree tops towards the abandoned church. At least there the damage wouldn´t harm neither Humans nor animals, any halfway sensitive creature had long since fled the place.

Then he rounds on the offending party.

"By Yama´s beard! What´s gotten into ya?! And ... guah! WEAR something will ya! No, better yet ... just CLOSE your damn legs!"

And indeed, having suffered through the Princess of Destruction´s power had left the female Fallen with even less than rags, which had began to fall off from the regenerating skin of the woman. Which left Ichigo looking at her barely covered freshly grown skin. That she was half sprawled, half sitting on the floor from fright when he had thrown the spear of light back into her general direction was just an ... unwelcome bonus. But Ichigo simply underestimated the impact a near death experience has on someone. Even the Fallen Angels, as long as their lifespan was had that innate fear of dying. No, it may even be that the longer one naturally lived, the greater their fear of death was. It was something that was shared by nearly all living beings, even the majority of the Shinigami themselves, who contrary to nearly everyone else knew what awaited them, feared their own demise. One could overcome that fear and some madmen even cherished the feeling of being near it, but it was nonetheless there. Buried as it was, deep in our bodies. And may the Fallen of that night have been eons in age, she was not a warrior of the likes of Zaraki. Having felt the brush of death previously that night at the hands of two Devils and now being faced with someone who could hurl her own spear back at her as if it was a nuisance she ran. Giving Ichigo a full view of her half healed posterior she turned around to give her wings place to erupt from her shoulders and then took to the skies in a mad flight. All to get away from the place of this disaster.

She had seen them...

She had seen Mittelt´s and Dohnaseek´s corpses.

After playing around with the Gremory princess and her Queen for a bit the three of them had been dispatched with a single attack from the red Devil. They had been done away with like mere flies not worth a second thought. That thought terrified her. It absolutely terrified her! This was the instinctual fear that every warrior warred with in each engagement, the fear of falling before someone stronger, the fear of imminent death!

Termination of her whole existence!

Everything she had ever done would have become meaningless!

She would be forgotten and there was no one to even keep her memory around!

She had seen the fates of the defeated many a time, their bodies mangled beyond reconnaissance, their loved ones tearing up around them and screaming to the Father who art in Heaven for a miracle.

Often enough she even had been the one to end that life.

And she had felt nothing but annoyance and disdain for those pathetic losers. Insects the lot of them! Humans, ever so weak and ignorant of the world. Wallowing in baseless self pity when there were so many others out there who suffered far more like herself! When they had caused so much eternal suffering!

The Angles and their fucking heaven high pride that allowed on the slightest impurity to touch them in fear of falling themselves. Their hearts too were filled with nothing but fear and arrogance towards those ... as vermin's they thought of them!

The monsters crawling around the Makai, ever brutal and without any higher brain functions, insolent and disgusting beasts they were!

And the Devils, ever arrogant like the Angels. Ever corrupting whatever they touch! Wasn´t everything their fault in the end? The Devils, who had temped the Humans, the Humans who tempted the Angels. They deserved all the pain she ever could inflict on them! For what they had done to her was ... so, so much worse!

But ...

That orange haired Asian boy ... he, he was worse. Facing him she had not felt the fear of death. Facing him she had felt to vanish as an existence.

She did not know what happened, had she somehow survived Gremory´s magic of destruction? Was she dead? Was this all some illusion? Had someone healed her? Had Raynare perhaps realised her plan and she had been the only one left among her comrades she was able to heal?

But one thing she knew for sure, ... if she had stayed in that forest with this ... being, for she did not know what kind of existence she could call it, she would cease to be. In one form or another the Fallen Angel known as Kalawarner would vanish.

* * *

Ichigo watched the retreating form of the Fallen Angel from the ground. When she had suddenly pulled out her wings and turned tail, unbidden blood had rushed to his face and ... another part. Some parts of her skin and flesh were still more raw than was healthy but he could not deny she had a beautiful body. Even with the lack of hair as that had yet to re-grow. Almost inhuman he mused with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

"There she goes, hopefully fate is gonna cut me some slack and I get around with explaining that I needed to lift some curse on a soul or something. ... At least neither Keigo nor goat-face did see this." He drawled out.

He really did not feel like hunting for the naked and irritate Fallen. People who were ungrateful enough to throw exploding spears into his face just after he took great risks to save them could fend for themselves, he decided.

"Well, if something comes up I always can find her with the reiraku ... and come to think of it, the Shinigami did not find out about Rukia lending me her powers until Ishida found it to be a good idea to have the hunting contest..." He mumbled to himself and his reasoning gave him hope that perhaps no one would give him flack for this.

But even if he wanted to go after the woman and deal with her properly, as he said, he could find her easily. With his reiryoku flowing through her he would be able to find her everywhere. But the matter of the loose Hollow around town took precedence. For contrary to his hopes and fears it had not come running towards the massive beacon of spiritual power he and the woman had unleashed but was lurking some ways away from them in the forest. And he knew just one thing that could have attracted him towards there.

Taking to the air, he sped towards the last souls to reap on this night.


End file.
